Compilation
Imperata koenigii

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Name

Identification
Imperata koenigii unrecorded [family POACEAE ] Imperata cylindrica (L.) Raeusch. [family POACEAE ] (stored under name); Imperata arundinacea unrecorded [family POACEAE ]
Related name
  • Imperata cylindrica
  • Imperata arundinacea
  • Imperata koenigii

Flora

Entry for IMPERATA cylindrica (L.) Raeuschel [family POACEAE]
Herbarium
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (K)
Collection
Flora of Tropical East Africa
Resource Type
Reference Sources
Entry From
Flora of Tropical East Africa, page 451, (1982) Author: W. D. CLAYTON and S.A. RENVOIZE
Names
IMPERATA cylindrica (L.) Raeuschel [family POACEAE], Nom. Bot., ed. 3: 10 (1797); F.T.A.9: 87 (1917); Fl. Agrost. Congo Belge 1: 80 (1929); Imp. Agric. Bur., Joint Publ. 7 (1944); Imp. Grassl. Pl. Kenya: 69 (1951). Type: Europe (LINN, holo.!)
Lagurus cylindricus L. [family POACEAE], Syst. Nat., ed. 10, 2: 878 (1759)
Saccharum koenigii Retz. [family POACEAE], Obs. Bot. 5: 16 (1789). Type: Japan, König (LD, holo.)
Saccharum thunbergii Retz. [family POACEAE], Obs. Bot. 5: 17 (1789). Type: East Indies, Thunberg (LD, holo.!) .
Imperata arundinacea Cyr. [family POACEAE], Pl. Rar. Neap. 2: 27, fig. 11 (1792). Type: Italy (whereabouts uncertain)
Imperata koenigii Nees var. major [family POACEAE], -Fl. Afr. Austr.: 90 (1841). Type: South Africa, Umgazana [Omgaziana] to Mzimvubu [Omsamwubo], Drège (whereabouts uncertain)
Imperata arundinacea Anderss. var. africana [family POACEAE], in Öfv. Svensk. Vet. Akad. Förh. 12: 159 (1855). Based on Saccharum thunbergii Retz.
Imperata cylindrica (Retz.) Th. Dur. & Schinz var. thunbergii [family POACEAE], Consp. Fl. Afr. 5: 693 (1894); F.T.A. 9: 88 (1917); E.A. Pasture Plants 1: 20 (1926)
Imperata arundinacea (Retz.) Stapf var. thunbergii [family POACEAE], in Fl. Cap. 7: 320 (1898)
Imperata angolensis Fritsch [family POACEAE], in Bull. Herb. Boiss., sér. 2, 1: 1096 (1901). Type: Angola, Huila, Dekindt (W, holo.)
Imperata cylindrica (Retz.) Pilg. var. koenigii [family POACEAE], in Perkins, Fragm. Fl. Phil.: 137 (1904); F.T.A. 9: 88 (1917); Ann. list Nyasaland grasses: 46 (1958)
Imperata dinteri Pilg. [family POACEAE], in E.J. 48: 342 (1912). Type: Namibia, Okokongominga, Dinter 1767 (B, holo.)
Imperata cylindrica (Nees) C.E. Hubbard var. major [family POACEAE], Grasses Maur. Rodr.: 96 (1940); G.T.: 93 (1965)
Imperata cylindrica (Anderss.) C.E. Hubbard var. africana [family POACEAE], in Imp. Agric. Bur., Joint Publ. 7: 10 (1944); Ann. list grasses Ug.: 25 (1947); F.P.N.A. 3: 42 (1955); F.P.S. 3: 476 (1956); R.K.G.: 54 (1958); I.G.U.: 38 (1960); G.T.: 92 (1965); Clayton in F.W.T.A., ed. 2, 3: 464 (1972)
Information
Aggressively rhizomatous perennial, forming tufts of leaves from a scaly rhizome; culms 10–120 cm. high, erect. Leaf-blades basal, flat (in the tropics), 3–100 cm. long or more, 2–20 mm. wide, stiffly erect. Panicle spiciform, cylindrical but sometimes with the lowermost branches loose, 3–22 cm. long, obscured in copious silky white hairs. Spikelets 2.2–6 mm. long; stamens 2. Fig. 159.
Range
DISTR. U1–4; K3, 5–7; T1, 3–8; Z; P throughout the Old World tropics, extending to the Mediterranean and Middle East
Altitude range
0–2100 m.
Distribution
KENYA S. Kavirondo District Kabondo-Oyugis, 15 Mar. 1951, Bogdan 2940!KENYA Masai District Kibosek, 30 Mar. 1961, Glover, Gwynne & Samuel 232!KENYA Mombasa District 6.5 km. N. of Mombasa, 27 Jan. 1953, Drummond & Hemsley 1031!TANZANIA Tanga District Sawa, 24 Dec. 1970, Faulkner 4517!TANZANIA Mbeya District Mbozi, 29 Aug. 1933, Greenway 3629!TANZANIA Songea District Lupembe Hill, 10 Jan. 1956, Milne-Redhead & Taylor 8184!TANZANIA Zanzibar I., Mazizini [Massazine], 17 Sept. 1959, Faulkner 2365! & Mbweni, 4 Feb. 1929, Greenway 1332!TANZANIA Pemba I., Mjambeli, 16 Oct. 1929, Burtt-Davy 2506/29!UGANDA Ankole District Bugongi, 17 Sept. 1929, Snowden 1430!UGANDA Mengo District Nakasongola, 16 Sept. 1954, Langdale-Brown 1309! & Entebbe, 16 Sept. 1929, Hitchcock 24872!
Distribution (external)
Chile
Notes
Three varieties are commonly recognized: The differences can be demonstrated statistically, but the varieties intergrade so much that individual specimens are often unidentifiable; the hairiness of the node, on which reliance has sometimes been placed, is almost useless as a means of identification. A form with small spikelets from coastal districts of East Africa has been equated with var. major, but the distribution of spikelet size (2.2–3.2 mm., mean 2.8) does not match that of the Asiatic population. It seems best to ignore the varietal classification, with the understanding that there are a number of imperfectly separable geographical variants.var. cylindrica. Leaf-blades rolled. Mediterranean and Middle East.var. africana. Leaf-blades flat; spikelets 3–5.7 mm. long (mean 4.5). Africa.var. major. Leaf-blades flat; spikelets 2.5–4.5 mm. long (mean 3.3). Tropical Asia.

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