Compilation
Melinis munzneri
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Name
Identification
Isotype of Melinis munzneri Mez [family POACEAE ] Rhynchelytrum nerviglume (Franch.) Chiov. [family POACEAE ] Verified by Hubbard,C.E., Melinis nerviglumis (Franch.) Zizka [family POACEAE ] (stored under name);
Related name
- Melinis munzneri
- Melinis nerviglumis
- Rhynchelytrum nerviglume
Flora
Entry for RHYNCHELYTRUM nerviglume (Franch.) Chiov. [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
RHYNCHELYTRUM nerviglume (Franch.) Chiov. [family POACEAE], in Nuov. Giorn. Bot. Ital., n.s., 26: 78 (1919); F.T.A. 9: 893 (1930); Fl. Agrost. Congo Belge 2: 304 (1934); Ann. list grasses Ug.: 39 (1947); R.K.G.: 50 (1958); Ann. list Nyasaland grasses: 55 (1958); I.G.U.: 51 (1960); G.T.: 82 (1965). Types: Congo, Brazzaville, Brazza & Thollon 380 (K, isosyn.!) & Alima R., Thollon 897 (P, syn.)
Tricholaena filifolia Franch. [family POACEAE], in Bull. Soc. Hist. Nat. Autun 8: 355 (1895). Type: Gabon, Griffon de Bellay 245 (P, holo.!)
Tricholaena congoensis Franch. [family POACEAE], in Bull. Soc. Hist. Nat. Autun 8: 356 (1895). Type: Congo, Brazzaville, Brazza & Thollon 381 (K, iso.!)
Tricholaena nerviglumis Franch. [family POACEAE], in Bull. Soc. Hist. Nat. Autun 8: 357 (1895)
Tricholaena setifolia Stapf [family POACEAE], in Fl. Cap. 7: 442 (1899). Type: South Africa, Oakfort, Rehmann 8456 (K, holo.!)
Melinis setifolia (Stapf) Hack. [family POACEAE], in Oest. Bot. Zeitschr. 51: 464 (1901)
Panicum busseanum Mez [family POACEAE], in E.J. 34: 131 (1904). Type: Tanzania, Songea District, Ungoni, Busse 850 (B, holo.)
Panicum gracillimum Mez [family POACEAE], in E.J. 34: 131 (1904), non Lams.-Scribn. (1896). Type: Gabon, Corisco Is., Mann 1889 (K, iso.!)
Panicum elongatum Mez [family POACEAE], in E.J. 34: 132 (1904), non Salisb. (1796). Type: Zaire, Demeuse 102 (B, holo.)
Rhynchelytrum setifolium (Stapt) Chiov. [family POACEAE], in Ann. Ist. Bot. Roma 8: 310 (1907); F.T.A. 9: 898 (1930); Fl. Agrost. Congo Belge 2: 306 (1934); R.K.G.: 50 (1958); G.T.: 82 (1965)
Melinis bachmannii Mez [family POACEAE], in E.J. 57: 198 (1921). Type: South Africa, Pondoland, Bachmann 191 (B, holo.)
Melinis munzneri Mez [family POACEAE], in E.J. 57: 198 (1921). Type: Tanzania, Mfimbwa Mt., Münzner 205 (B, holo.)
Melinis nyassanum Mez [family POACEAE], in E.J. 57: 199 (1921). Type: Tanzania, Rungwe District, Kyimbila, Stolz 1095 (K, iso.!)
Melinis villosipes Mez [family POACEAE], in E.J. 57: 199 (1921). Types: Tanzania, Rungwe District, Kyimbila, Stolz 967 (K, isosyn.!) & Malawi, Buchanan 244 (B, syn.)
Rhynchelytrum nyassanum (Mez) Stapf & Hubbard [family POACEAE], in F.T.A. 9: 892 (1930)
Rhynchelytrum ramosum Stapf & Hubbard [family POACEAE], in F.T.A. 9: 895 (1930). Type: Angola, Sumba Plateau, Gossweiler 8603 (B, holo.)
Rhynchelytrum filifolium (Franch.) Stapf & Hubbard [family POACEAE], in F.T.A. 9: 896 (1930)
Rhynchelytrum stuposum Stapf & Hubbard [family POACEAE], in F.T.A. 9: 897 (1930); Ann. list Nyasaland grasses: 56 (1958). Type: Malawi, Mt. Malosa, Whyte (K, holo.!)
Tricholaena busseana (Mez) Peter [family POACEAE], F.D.O.-A. 1: 219 (1931)
Information
Densely caespitose perennial, the basal sheaths glabrous to tomentose; culms 15–120 cm. high, erect. Leaf-blades setaceous and crowded into a basal tussock, 5–30 cm. long, the larger plants also with flat cauline leaves 2–4 mm. wide. Panicle linear to narrowly oblong, 4–26 cm. long; pedicels glabrous or pilose. Spikelets narrowly oblong to narrowly ovate, (3–)4–5 mm. long, densely villous with silky white, pink or purple hairs extending 1–4 mm. beyond the tip but the lower half sometimes merely pubescent; lower glume a little ovate or oblong scale up to 1 mm. long, mostly concealed by hairs, usually inserted close to the upper glume; upper glume gently curved on the back, chartaceous with a membranous tip, minutely emarginate, mucronate or inconspicuously awned (up to 4 mm.); lower floret ♂, its lemma resembling the upper glume and usually separated from it by a very short internode, its palea ciliate on the keels.
Range
DISTR. U2; K2–4; T2, 4–8 Gabon and Zaire, southwards to the Cape
Distribution
KENYA Uasin Gishu District Eldoret, 20 Sept. 1929, Hitchcock 25020!KENYA Elgeyo District 40 km. NE. of Kitale, 5 June 1952, Bogdan 3426!KENYA N. Nyeri District Engwaki Peak, 7 July 1943, Moreau 243!TANZANIA Ufipa District Kasunga ]Kanyalakata] village, 13 Dec. 1958, Vesey-FitzGerald 2057! & Mkunde–Chapota, 1 Dec. 1949, Bullock 1970!TANZANIA Kondoa District near Kolo, 2 Feb. 1928, B.D. Burtt 1302!UGANDA Ankole District Lwasamaire, 28 June 1945, A.S. Thomas 4179!
Distribution (external)
Madagascar
Thailand
Notes
The species can be recognized by its densely caespitose habit. Specimens with the leaves all basal and setaceous (R. setifolia) are often treated as distinct from taller plants with some of the leaves cauline and flattened. However there is no clear dividing line between the two, and the latter seems to be no more than a luxuriant growth form; both forms show a parallel range of spikelet variation. R. rhodesianum (Rendle) Stapf & Hubbard from Zimbabwe and South Africa has the spikelets glabrous below and merely pubescent above with hairs scarcely exceeding the tip. In other respects it resembles R. nerviglume, and its claim to specific rank is open to doubt.