Compilation
Melica caffrorum

21 Images see all

Previous
Next

Name

Identification
Melica caffrorum Schrad. [family POACEAE ] (stored under name); Verified by Grisebach, A., Melica caffrorum Schrad. [family POACEAE ] Verified by Not on sheet,
Related name
  • Melica neesii
  • Ehrharta calycina
  • Melica pumila
  • Melica racemosa
  • Melica caffrorum
  • Ehrharta unrecorded
  • Melica decumbens

Flora

Entry for MELICA racemosa Thunb. [family POACEAE]
Herbarium
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (K)
Collection
Flora Capensis
Resource Type
Reference Sources
Entry From
Flora Capensis, Vol 7, page 310, (1900) Author: (By O. STAPF.)
Names
MELICA racemosa Thunb. [family POACEAE], Prodr. 21;—Thunb. Fl. Cap. ed. 1, 417; ed. Schult. 111; Kunth, Enum. i. 378; Durand & Schinz, Consp. Fl. Afr. v. 898.
MELICA Caffrorum Schrad. [family POACEAE], in Goett. Gel. Anz. iii. (1821) 2073, and in Schult. Mant. ii. 296; Kunth, Enum. Pl. i. 376; Nees in Linnæa, vii. 327, and Fl. Afr. Austr. 418; Steud. Syn. Pl. Glum. i. 289; Durand & Schinz, Consp. Fl. Afr. v. 896.
Information
culms ascending from a usually long very slender wiry sometimes procumbent base, simple or branched below, 2–3 ft. long, glabrous, smooth or scabrid below the panicle, many-noded, internodes (except the uppermost) mostly enclosed; leaves glabrous, scabrid, rather crowded above the base, the lowest more or less reduced; sheaths tight, striate; ligules up to 1 lin. long; blades linear, tapering to a fine point, 3–6 in. long, 1/2–1 1/2 lin. wide when expanded, usually convolute, subglaucous; panicle very narrow, 3–9 in. long, erect or nodding, more or less secund; branches mostly solitary, distant, erect or suberect, branched or more often simple, filiform to capillary, flexuous, often much shorter than the internodes; pedicels 1/2–1 1/2 lin. long, tips thickened, pubescent; spikelets pallid, rarely slightly purplish, 3–5 lin. long; fertile flowers 2; glumes unequal or subequal, 5-nerved, the lower hyaline, ovate, acute, 3–3 1/2 lin. long, the upper oblong, firmer, acuminate, nerves rather close and prominent, slightly scabrid, 3 1/2–4 1/2 lin. long; valves slightly exceeding or equalling the glumes, the fertile oblong, obtuse or minutely truncate or emarginate, 7–9-nerved, nerves rather prominent, scabrid, sides only hairy; hairs 2 lin. long; body of barren valves clavate, glabrous, scaberulous; anthers 1 lin. long; grain 1–1 1/4 lin. long, semiterete. null
Distribution
CENTRAL REGION Middelburg Div.; between Compass Berg and Rhinoster Bergen, 4500–5000 ft., Drège.COAST REGION Cape Div.; between Lions Head and Table Mountain, Burchell, 251! near Lion Battery, Wolley Dod, 3107! East side of Table Mountain, near Tokay, Ecklon. Capetown, Harvey, 137! in and about Camps Bay, Wolley Dod, 3106! lower slopes of Smithwinkel Bay, Wolley Dod, 2977! Riversdale Div.; near the Zoetemelks River, Burchell, 6631! Uitenhage Div.; amongst shrubs on sand hills near the Zwartkops River, Ecklon & Zeyher, 253! in virgin forest on Olifants Hoek, Ecklon. Port Elizabeth Div.; near Port Elizabeth, Ecklon, E.S.C.A. Herb., 132! Alexandria Div.; near Addo, in woods and grassy places, 1000–2000 ft., Drège! Albany Div.; near Grahamstown, 1000–2000 ft., Drège! in the scrub near Brand Kraal, 2000 ft., MacOwan, 1282! in woods near the Kowie River, MacOwan, 705! Albany, Zeyher! King Williamstown Div.; Amatola Mountains, Buchanan, 53! Komgha Div.; near Komgha. Flanagan, 432! Stockenstrom Div.; in mountain woods, by the sources of the Kat River, near Philipton, Ecklon. Queenstown Div.; on rocks of Table Mountain, 5000–6000 ft., Drège.EASTERN REGION Tembuland; Bazeia, at Klip Krantz, 2000 ft., Baur, 410! Griqualand East; mountain sides around Clydesdale, Tyson, 2863! Natal; Berea, near Durban, by the roadside, Wood, 3926! Merebank, near Durban, Wood, 7258! Vernon, Buchanan, 155! Weenen County, 4000 ft., Wood, 3590!KALAHARI REGION Basutoland, Cooper, 3358!
Notes
Very like the Mediterranean M. ciliata, but differing in the rough leaves, the less acuminate upper glume and the more obtuse valves.

Related Materials