Compilation
Panicum equitans

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Name

Identification
Panicum equitans Hochst. ex A.Rich. [family POACEAE ] Verified by Not on sheet, Echinochloa colona (L.) Link [family POACEAE ] (stored under name); Verified by Not on sheet,
Related name
  • Panicum equitans
  • Panicum colonum
  • Panicum colonum l.
  • Echinochloa colona

Flora

Entry for ECHINOCHLOA colona (L.) Link [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
ECHINOCHLOA colona (L.) Link [family POACEAE], Hort. Berol. 2: 209 (1833); F.T.A. 9: 607 (1920); E.A. Pasture Plants 1: 36 (1926); Fl. Agrost. Congo Belge 2: 138 (1934); Ann. list grasses Ug.: 16 (1947); F.P.N.A. 3: 92 (1955); F.P.S. 3: 441 (1956); R.K.G.: 42 (1958); Ann. list Nyasaland grasses: 36 (1958); I.G.U.: 27 (1960); G.T.: 65 (1965); Clayton in F.W.T.A., ed. 2, 3: 439 (1972). Type: Jamaica, Browne (LINN, holo.)
Panicum colonum L. [family POACEAE], Syst. Nat., ed. 10, 2: 870 (1759)
Panicum equitans A. Rich. [family POACEAE], Tent. Fl. Abyss. 2: 365 (1851). Type: Ethiopia, Sara, Schimper 1608 (K, iso.!)
Panicum brachiariaeforme Steud. [family POACEAE], Syn. Pl. Glum. 1: 54 (1854). Type: West Africa, without precise locality, Le Jolis (P, holo.)
Echinochloa divaricata Anderss. [family POACEAE], in Peters, Reise Mossamb., Bot. 2: 549 (1863). Type: Mozambique, Tete, Peters (B, holo.!)
Panicum colonum (A. Rich.) Th. Dur. & Schinz var. equitans [family POACEAE], Consp. Fl. Afr. 5: 743 (1895)
Setaria brachiariaeformis (Steud.) Th. Dur. & Schinz [family POACEAE], Consp. Fl. Afr. 5: 772 (1895)
Panicum echinochloa Th. Dur. & Schinz [family POACEAE], Consp. Fl. Afr. 5: 748 (1894). Based on Echinochloa divaricata Anderss. non Panicum divaricatum L. (1759)
Panicum colonum Hack. var. atroviolaceum [family POACEAE], in Viert. Nat. Ges. Zurich 56: 71 (1911). Type: Namibia, Ondonga to Uakuyanyama, Rautanen 741 (Z, holo.!)
Echinochloa crus-galli (L.) Honda subsp. colona [family POACEAE], in Bot. Mag. Tokyo 37: 122 (1923)
Panicum colonum Peter var. angustatum [family POACEAE], F.D.O.-A. 1, Anh.: 33 (1930). Type: Tanzania, Kigoma District, Uvinza, Peter 35953 (B, holo.†)
Echinochloa equitans (A. Rich.) C.E. Hubbard [family POACEAE], in Troupin, Expl. Pare Nat. Garamba 4: 33 (1956)
Brachiaria longifolia Gilli [family POACEAE], in Ann. Nat. Mus. Wien 69: 39 (1966). Type: Tanzania, Njombe District, Lupingu, Gilli 43 (W, holo.!)
Echinochloa colona (A. Rich.) Cuf. var. equitans [family POACEAE], in B.J.B.B. 39, Suppl.: 1320 (1969)
Information
Annual; culms 10–100 cm. high, erect or ascending. Leaf-blades 5–30 cm. long, 2–8 mm. wide, occasionally marked with purple bars; ligule absent; sheaths glabrous. Inflorescence typically linear, 1–15 cm. long, the racemes neatly 4-rowed, seldom over 3 cm. long, simple, commonly ± 1/2 their length apart and appressed to the axis but sometimes subverticillate and spreading (rarely congested). Spikelets ovate-elliptic to subglobose, 1.5–3 mm. long, pubescent; lower floret ♂ or barren, acute to cuspidate (rarely with a subulate point up to 1 mm. long); upper lemma 2–3 mm. long. Fig. 134.
Range
DISTR. U1–4; K1–5, 7; T2–8; Z; P throughout the tropics and subtropics
Altitude range
0–2100 m.
Distribution
KENYA Northern Frontier Province Lokori, 11 km. S. of Kangetet, 15 May 1970, Mathew 6206! & Moyale, 3 July 1952, Gillett 13479!KENYA Nakuru District Lake Elmenteita, 15 June 1951, Bogdan 3038!TANZANIA Mbulu District S. of Msasa R., 24 Feb. 1964, Greenway & Kanuri 11231!TANZANIA Kondoa District between Kondoa and Mondo 9.5 km. E. of Kondoa, 20 Jan. 1962, Polhill & Paulo 1230!TANZANIA Uzaramo District Dar es Salaam University College, 13 July 1968, Mwasumbi 10360!TANZANIA Zanzibar I., Kinyasini, 21 Jan. 1929, Greenway 1112!TANZANIA Pemba I., Chake-Chake, 20 Oct. 1929, Vaughan 844!UGANDA W. Nile District near Obongi, Lomunga, 12 July 1957, Brooks 122!UGANDA Ankole District Mbarara, 4 Apr. 1940, A.S. Thomas 3370!UGANDA Busoga District Jinja, Dec. 1937, Chandler 2076!
Notes
Echinochloa colona can usually be recognized by the short distant neatly 4-rowed racemes; less constant characters are the little round awnless spikelets with soft indumentum. However, there is a certain amount of variation, and forms with elliptic pointed spikelets tend to intergrade with E. crus-galli. Variability increases greatly in Tanzania and Zambia where forms with a lanceolate inflorescence of subverticillate spreading racemes become common, and it is often extremely difficult to know where the boundary with E. haploclada should lie; it is helpful to that E. colona is always annual, awnless (except for an occasional subulate point) and without a ligule. In Zambia forms with a dense inflorescence approach closely to E. frumentacea. The epithet is sometimes treated as the irregular genitive plural of a noun (“of the farmers”) and spelt colonum. However there seems no reason to depart from the adjectival form familiar to botanists; though not in the purest classical tradition, its use was sanctioned by lexicographers of Linnaeus’ own time.

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