Compilation
Bromus unioloides

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Name

Identification
Bromus unioloides Kunth [family POACEAE ]
Related name
  • Bromus unioloides

Flora

Entry for Bromus unioloides Kunth [family GRAMINEAE]
Herbarium
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (K)
Collection
Flora Zambesiaca
Resource Type
Reference Sources
Entry From
FZ, Vol 10, Part 1, (1971) Author: E. Launert
Names
Bromus unioloides Kunth [family GRAMINEAE], Nov. Gen. & Sp. Pl. 1: 151 (1816). — Hack. in Engl. & Prantl, Nat. Pflanzenfam. 2, 2: 76 (1887). — Stapf. in Harv. & Sond., F. C. 7: 727, 734 (1900). — Wood, Natal Pl. t. 5, 3: pl. 461 (1906). — Sturgeon in Rhod. Agric. Journ. 51: 225 (1954). — C. E. Hubb. in Agron. Lusit. 18: 7 (1956). — Bogdan, Rev. List Kenya Grass.: 14 (1958). — Bor, Grass. B.C.I. & P.: 456 (1960). — Harker & Napper, Ill. Guide Grass. Uganda: 20 (1960). — Napper, Grass. Tangan.: 15 (1965). — W. D. Clayton, F.T.E.A., Gramineae: 67, fig. 23 no. 14 (1970). TAB. 17 fig. B. Type from Ecuador.
Bromus catharticus Vahl [family GRAMINEAE], Symb. Bot. 2: 22 (1791) nomen confusum. — Hack. in Engl. & Prantl, Nat. Pflanzenfam. 2, 2: 75 (1887). — Monro in Proc. Rhod. Sci. Assoc. 6, 1: 38, 61 (1906). — Chippindall in Meredith, Grasses & Pastures of S. Afr.: 63 (1955). — Type not certain.
Festuca unioloides Willd. [family GRAMINEAE], in Hort. Berol. 1: tab. 3 (1803). Type from North America (Carolina) cultivated from a seed at Berlin.
Ceratochloa unioloides Willd. Beauv. [family GRAMINEAE], Ess. Agrost.: 75, 164, tab. 15, fig. 7 (1812). Type as above.
Schedonardus unioloides Kunth Roem. & Schult. [family GRAMINEAE], in L., Syst. Veg. 2: 708 (1817). Type as for Bromus unioloides.
Bromus unioloides Willd. Rasp. [family GRAMINEAE], in Ann. Sci. Nat., Bot. 5: 439 (1825) non Kunth (1816). Type as for Festuca unioloides.
Bromus willdenowii Kunth [family GRAMINEAE], Rev. Gram. 1: 134 (1829). Type as for Festuca unioloides.
Ceratochloa haenkeana Presl [family GRAMINEAE], in Reliq. Haenk. 1: 285 (1830). Type from Chile.
Bromus haenkeanus Presl Kunth [family GRAMINEAE], Enum. Pl. 1: 416 (1833). Type as above.
Ceratochloa cathartica Vahl Herter [family GRAMINEAE], Revist. Sudamer. Bot. 6: 144 (1940). Type as for Bromus catharticus.
Information
A rather variable annual, biennial or short-lived perennial. Culms 40-100 cm. tall, 2-4-noded, erect to straggling, slender and weak to robust, glabrous, smooth. Leaf-sheaths tight at first later usually slipping off the culm, striate, inconspicuously keeled; the lower usually densely pubescent to almost tomentose, rarely glabrous, pallid. Ligule 2-5 mm. long, ovate, often lacerate. Leaf-laminae 6-25 x 0·2-1·2 cm., linear, tapering to a fine point, more or less flaccid, usually expanded, glabrous or more rarely shortly pilose especially dorsally towards the base, scabrous on the nerves of both surfaces and along the margins. Panicle 15-30 cm. long, usually rather narrow, oblong, narrowly elliptic, or ovate-oblong in outline, erect or sometimes nodding, scantily branched (in poorly developed plants reduced to a raceme); rhachis terete and grooved below, sharply angular above, increasingly scaberulous towards the apex; branches 2-4-nate, remote, filiform, angulose, scabrous, obliquely ascending to drooping. Spikelets (15)20-40 mm. long, 6-12-flowered, pedicelled, narrowly elliptic to lanceolate-elliptic in outline, strongly laterally compressed, pale green to glaucous; rhachilla easily disarticulating at maturity. Glums lanceolate, with the apex acute to acuminate, with whitish hyaline margins, glabrous, smooth but for the scaberulous keels; the inferior 6-14 mm. long, 5-7-nerved; the superior 11-17 mm. long, 7-9-nerved. Lemmas 12-18mm. long, 9-13-nerved, very densely imbricate, narrowly oblong-lanceolate, chartaceous with thinly membranous margins, with the apex usually very minutely 2-dentate, mucronate or shortly awned, very sharply keeled, scaberulous along the flanks (mainly on the nerves) and along the keel; awn up to 3 mm. long. Palea c. the length of the lemma, with the keels stiffly ciliolate. Anthers 0·5-1 mm. long. Caryopsis 8-12 mm. long.
Habitat
In S. Africa some of the cultivated varieties are grown for pastures. In disturbed areas, in gardens and arable land, often in moist places
Range
Indigenous to the New World (South America?), introduced into Australia, Asia, southern Europe, tropical and southern Africa where it usually grows as a weed
Distribution
Zimbabwe E Inyanga, 1710 m., iii.1931, Allen 3762 (SRGH).Zimbabwe C Marandellas, 19.x.1931, Rattray 5383 (BM; SRGH).Zimbabwe W Matopos, 1400 m., viii.1922, Mainwaring 3587 (SRGH).
Notes
According to P. H. Raven (Brittonia, 12: 219-221 (1960)) B. unioloides Kunth is confined to the Andes whereas the widely disseminated grass should be referred to as B. willdenowii Kunth. The main difference between these 2 taxa is supposed to lie in the scabrousness of the nerves of the lemma: in the first sp. the nerves are said to be long-ciliate with the intercostal spaces absolutely smooth whereas in the second sp. the flanks of the lemmas should be “uniformly scabrous”. Raven also reports that the “2 spp. occupy distinct habitats and geographical areas in S. America . . . . ”. Although I am not able to contest Raven’s conclusions it was impossible for me to separate the 2 spp. in the herbarium. In the same attempt my friends at the Kew Herbarium also failed (oral communication by W. D. Clayton). Incidentally in no instance could we find “ciliate” nerves on the lemmas unless the scabrous nerves were subjected to high magnifications. There is a continuous range from the nerves being scabrous to entirely smooth. Unless better evidence, based on more material, can be produced it seems advisable to maintain the well-established name for the whole complex.

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