Compilation
Cenchrus echinatus

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Name

Identification
Cenchrus echinatus L. [family POACEAE ] (stored under name); Verified by Not on sheet,
Related name
  • Cenchrus annularis
  • Cenchrus incertus
  • Cenchrus echinatus
  • Cenchrus tribuloides
  • Cenchrus brevisetus
  • Elymus caput-medusae
  • Cenchrus biflorus
  • Cenchrus longispinus
  • Cenchrus pauciflorus
Common name
  • southern burgrass (Bahamas)., Burkill, H.M. 1985. The useful plants of west tropical Africa, Vol. 2
  • cram-cram (Roberty)., Burkill, H.M. 1985. The useful plants of west tropical Africa, Vol. 2

Flora

Entry for CENCHRUS barbatus Schum. [family POACEAE]
Herbarium
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (K)
Collection
Flora of Tropical Africa
Resource Type
Reference Sources
Entry From
Flora of Tropical Africa, Vol 9, page 1, (1917) Author: (By O. STAPF.)
Names
CENCHRUS barbatus Schum. [family POACEAE], Beskr. Guin. Pl. 43 (1827). —Durand & Schinz, Consp. Fl. Afr. v. 777; De Wild. & Durand, Contr. Fl. Congo, fasc. 2, 73 and in Bull. Herb. Boiss. sér. 2, i. 61 and Reliq. Dewevre. 257; De Wild. Miss. Laurent, 202; Th. & H. Durand, Syll. Fl. Congol. 636.
CENCHRUS catharticus Delile [family POACEAE], Cat. Hort. Monsp. 1838, ex Linnaea, xiii. Litt. 103 (1839); Steud. Syn. Pl. Glum. i. 111; Boiss. Fl. Orient. v. 448; Durand & Schinz, Consp. Fl. Afr. v. 775; K. Schum. in Engl. Pflanzenw. Ost-Afr. C. 105, in part; Hook. f. Fl. Brit. Ind. vii. 90; Rendle in Cat. Afr. Pl. Welw. ii. 188; Chiov. in Ann. Istit. Bot. Roma, viii. 324; Chevalier, Étud. Fl. Afr. Centr. Franç. i. 367 and Expl. Bot. Afr. Occid. Franç. i. 734; Massey, Sudan Grasses, 37; Chase in Contrib. U.S. Nat. Herb. xxii. 53, fig. 8; Peter in Fedde, Repert. Beih. xl. 248, in part.
CENCHRUS Lapeta Ham. ex Wall. [family POACEAE], Cat. 8654D, name only.
CENCHRUS niloticus Fig. & De Not. [family POACEAE], in Mem. Accad. Torino, ser. 2, xiv. 380, t. 33 (1854).
CENCHRUS annularis Anderss. [family POACEAE], in Peters, Reise Mossamb. Bot. ii. 553 (1863); Durand & Schinz, Consp. Fl. Afr. v. 775; K. Schum. in Engl. Pflanzenw. Ost-Afr. C. 105.
CENCHRUS echinatus Benth. [family POACEAE], in Hook. Niger Fl. 564; Franch. Contr. Fl. Congo Franç. 51 (?); Chevalier in Act. Congr. Bot., Paris, 1900, 259 (?); not of Linn.
Elymus Caput-Medusæ Forsk. [family ], Fl. Ægypt.-Arab. 25 (1775); not of Linn.
Information
Annual. Culms erect or geniculately ascending from a decumbent base and rooting at the lower nodes, 1/4–3 1/2 ft. high, slender to somewhat stout, slightly compressed or terete, simple or more often branched, 4–8-noded, scaberulous towards the panicle, otherwise glabrous and smooth. Leaf-sheaths compressed and keeled, at length shorter than the internodes, scabrous upwards, glabrous; ligule reduced to a densely ciliate rim; blade linear or lanceolate-linear, tapering to a fine point, 1 1/4–12 in. long, 1–3 1/2 lin. wide, flat, rather rigid, green or glaucous, scabrid on both sides or smooth below, sometimes with loosely scattered hairs towards the ligule, but usually glabrous. False spike dense, cylindric, 1 1/4–6 in. long, 4 1/2–6 lin. wide, straw-coloured, rarely purplish; rhachis angular, scabrid on the angles; involucres slightly spreading, subsessile or minutely stalked, 2–3 1/2 (rarely to 4 1/2) lin. long, 1 1/2–2 1/2 lin. wide; bristles numerous, united at the base into a shallow crescent-shaped or elliptic disc, the outer row terete, shorter, of unequal length, rigid, retrorsely scabrid, at length horizontally spreading, the inner (7–14) subequal, 2–3 (rarely 4) lin. long, rigid, subulate, flattened and widened downwards, erect, grooved on the outside with 1–3 green nerves in the groove, densely ciliate on the margins on the inside around the spikelet, retrorsely scabrid above, with the usually pungent (rarely obtuse) tips slightly spreading. Spikelets paired, rarely solitary or in threes, sessile, ovate, subacuminate, 1 3/4–2 1/2 lin. long. Glumes thinly membranous, obtuse or acute; lower lanceolate, about 1 lin. long, nerveless or 1-nerved; upper ovate to broadly ovate, 1 1/4–1 3/4 lin. long, 1–5-nerved. Lower floret barren: valve similar to the upper glume but slightly larger, up to four-fifths the length of the spikelet, 3–5-nerved, often mucronulate; valvule usually suppressed, rarely present and then linear and up to 1 1/2 lin. long. Upper floret hermaphrodite, ovate, acuminate: valve when flattened ovate, obtuse and mucronulate or acute, as long as the spikelet, firmly chartaceous to coriaceous with membranous margins, 5-nerved; valvule as long as the valve. Anthers 1/4– 1/3 lin. long. Grain elliptic or elliptic-oblong, dorsally compressed, 1 lin. long.
Range
introduced into the United States.
Distribution
Congo Lower Guinea Kwango District; between Bandundu and Leverville, Nermoesen, 562! Bandundu, Vanderyst, 3568! Kimbimbi, Vanderyst, 2616!Angola Lower Guinea Ambriz, Welwitsch, 2900! Loanda; common in dry sandy plains near Penedo, Welwitsch, 2915! from Alto das Crazes to Penedo and Boa Vista, Welwitsch, 7306! without precise locality, Welwitsch, 7347! Pungo Andongo; in grassy places near Sansamanda. Welwitsch, 2791!Portuguese East Africa Mozamb. Dist. Msalu River, Allen, 126!Sudan Nile Land Darfur; Jebel Meidob, Kaboija, Michelmore ! Kordofan; Djika, Pfund, 507! Abu-Gerad, Kotschy, 3! Blue Nile; near Soba, Crowfoot ! near Khartoum, Schweinfurth, 840! without precise locality, Figari ! Red Sea Province; Wadi Eremit, Schweinfurth, 630! without precise locality, Penton !Eritrea Nile Land Amasen; Addi-Baro, along the river Mareb, Pappi, 2387; Beni Amer; Mt. Damba, Pappi, 5930; Carajai, Pappi, 6129; Maunsura, Pappi, 7201!Abyssinia Nile Land near Ambakahl, Ehrenberg ! Tigre; near Jelajeranne, Schimper, 2019! Samen; Jaja, 3000–3500 ft., Schimper, 120!North Central Lake Chad: Kouri Archipelago, from Modou to Bérirem, Chevalier, 10121.Ubangi-Shari North Central Goundi, country of the Saras, Chevalier, 8592.Congo South Central Albertville, Shantz, 662!Mauritania Upper Guinea Nouaguelmich, Charles in Herb. Chevalier, 28731.Senegal Upper Guinea Sor Island, Brunner, 29! 33! Thies to St. Louis, Chevalier, 2338 bis; near the village of Kouma, Roger, 63! M'Bidjem, Thierry ! without precise locality, Roger ! Farmar, 63a!Gambia Upper Guinea Don !French Sudan Upper Guinea Dasso, Chevalier, 1016; dunes of Timbucktu, Chevalier, 1229! Hagerup, 146! Mossi; Ouagadougou, Chevalier, 24751.Gold Coast Upper Guinea Northern Territories, Bunner in Herb. Irvine, 242! Yeji, on old farms in rather marshy spots, Williams, 226! Tamale, very common on recently cultivated ground, Williams, 452! Accra, Brown, 427! near Prampram, Krausse ! without precise locality, Beal, 21!Dahomey Upper Guinea Cotonou, Debeaux, 155! Chevalier, 22704; neighbourhood of Agouagon, Chevalier, 23664.Nigeria Upper Guinea Lagos; on the island, Dalziel, 1130! Ikoyi, on roadside, Maitland, 159! Aboh, Barter, 835!Nigeria Upper Guinea Lokoja, Richardson, 7! Macleod ! Nupe, Barter, 431! Baikie ! Sokoto, Moisier, 138! Amar, on R. Benue, Macleod, 55! Katagum District, Dalziel, 276! Bornu; Mongonu to between Yebi Bukar and Bisagana, particularly common between Galarige and Fantaganari, often only found on the wide cattle tracks between villages and in the immediate vicinity of villages, on sandy soils, Golding, 13!
Distribution (external)
India
Notes
The involucres (burs) are on the whole fairly uniform in size. There are, however, a few exceptions. Specimens collected by Hagerup (146) at Timbucktu in the French Sudan have exceptionally large involucres. The other extreme is seen in specimens collected in Senegal by Roger and by Thierry, in which the involucres are small and have mostly relatively broad and blunt bristles. In this case a few of the better developed involucres have spiny bristles. Cenchrus catharticus, Delile was described from specimens having rather short bristles such as are found on some inflorescences of specimens collected by Kotschy (No. 3) at Abu-Gerad in the Sudan. In the same gathering, however, are found specimens with longer bristles corresponding to specimens of C. barbatus, Schum. Vern. Names:— Karangia or Karangiya (Hausa); Heskanit, Koreib (Arabic).

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