LEPTOCHLOA filiformis [family POACEAE], auct. non (Lam.) P. Beauv.
Information
Annual up to 110 cm high; leaves linear, long-attenuate. Inflorescence 20–30 cm long, composed of numerous straight, slender ascending racemes each 4–11 cm long, scattered along the main axis and bearing clearly secund spikelets. Spikelets 1.9–2.5 mm long, 2- to 5-flowered (usually 3-flowered), laterally compressed; lower glume 0.7–1.5 mm long; upper glume 0.9–1.6 mm long; lemma 0.8–1.2 mm long, keeled, minutely hairy on the back, bluntly 2-toothed. Caryopsis broadly elliptic, trigonous in cross-section.
Range
S3 tropical Africa and tropical Asia.
Distribution
SOMALIA Scassellati & Mazzocchi 28 (not seen).
Notes
The single collection from Somalia, cited as L. filiformis by Chiovenda, Res. Sci. Miss. Stefanini-Paoli: 227 (1916), has not been seen and the record needs confirmation. L. filiformis is a South American species, but L. panicea was previously often misidentified as this.
