Compilation
Pennisetum thunbergii

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Name

Identification
Pennisetum thunbergii Kunth [family POACEAE ]
Related name
  • Pennisetum thunbergii

Flora

Entry for PENNISETUM Thunbergii Kunth [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
PENNISETUM Thunbergii Kunth [family POACEAE], Rév. Gram. i. 50;—Kunth, Enum. i. 164; Durand & Schinz, Consp. Fl. Afr. v. 786; Hackel in Bull. Herb. Boiss. iv. App. iii. 17.
PENNISETUM alopecuroides Steud. [family POACEAE], in Flora, 1829, 472, and Syn. Pl. Glum. i. 103; Trin. Pan. Gen. 90, and in Mém. Acad. Pétersb. sér. vi. iii. 178, not of Spreng.
PENNISETUM cenchroides Nees [family POACEAE], in Linnæa, vii. 277, and Fl. Afr. Austr. 70 (in part), not Rich.
PENNISETUM purpurascens Durand & Schinz [family POACEAE], Consp. Fl. Afr. v. 783, not of Anderss. nor of H. B. K.
Cenchrus geniculatus Thunb. [family POACEAE], Prod. 24.
Panicum geniculatum Thunb. [family POACEAE], Fl. Cap. i. 388, and ed. Schult. 103 (excl. syn. P. hordeiforme).
Gymnothrix purpurascens Schrad. [family ], in Goett. Gel. Anz. 1821, 2072; Kunth, Enum. i. 159; Nees in Linnæa, vii. 277; and Fl. Afr. Austr. 68.
Information
perennial; culms from a rather slender rhizome, ascending, conspicuously geniculate, slender, compressed below, 3/4–1 1/2 ft. long, about 2-noded, smooth, glabrous or pubescent below the panicle; upper internodes exserted, uppermost often long; leaves for the most part crowded at the base, glabrous except a hairy line at the junction of blade and sheath, rarely hairy all over except towards the base of the sheaths; sheaths firm, lower short, persistent, striate, keeled or ultimately rounded, upper long, loose or subtumid; ligule a dense silky fringe of short hairs; blades linear, tapering to an acute point, 2–3 in. (rarely more) by 2–3 lin., keeled and folded or flat or involute, rigid, rather dull green, smooth except towards the tips and along the scaberulous margins; panicle cylindric, very dense, erect, 1 1/4–2 in. by 3–5 lin., purplish; rhachis scabrid; pedicels obsolete; involucres of very numerous and very fine scaberulous bristles, purplish above, of unequal length, the longer sometimes twice as long as the spikelets; spikelets solitary, oblong-lanceolate, 1 1/2–2 lin. long, pallid, glabrous; lower glume suppressed, upper very minute, hyaline, nerveless; lower floret reduced to an ovate acuminate 1–3-nerved valve of about half the length of the hermaphrodite floret and usually with a short fine bristle; fertile valve ovate-oblong, abruptly mucronate, acuminate, 5- to sub-7-nerved; lodicules 0 or very minute; anthers about 1 lin. long, tips minutely bearded; styles almost free, although often more or less cohering. null
Range
The type is also found in Hereroland, German South-west Africa.
Distribution
CENTRAL REGION Prince Albert Div.; by the Gamka River at Weltevrede, 2500–3000 ft., Drège! Var. β: Somerset Div.; in moist places on the Bosch Berg, 3500 ft., MacOwan, 1661! Graaff Reinet Div.; Spitz Kop (Compass Berg), Bowker, 48! Sneeuwberg Range, near Houd Constant, 3800 ft., Bolus, 1960!COAST REGION Cape Div.; in ditches and on hillsides near Capetown, Thunberg! Spielhaus! moist spots between Table Mountain and Kamps Bay, Ecklon! in moist spots at the foot of Devils Mountain, Ecklon, Bergius; in swamps in Orange Kloof, Wolley Dod, 3225! (intermediate between the type and the variety). Worcester Div.; Hex River Valley, Wolley Dod, 3712! George Div.; near George, Burchell, 6001! Uitenhage Div.; near Uitenhage, Herb. Harvey, 96! Stockenstrom Div.; Kat Berg, 4000 ft., Drège. Cathcart Div.; Glencairn, 4800 ft., Galpin, 2418! Var. β: Cape Div.; near King's Blockhouse, Wolley Dod, 2668! Queenstown Div.; Fincham's Nek, near Queenstown, 3800 ft., Galpin, 2368!EASTERN REGION Var. β: Tembuland; Bazeia, sandy river margins, 2000–2500 ft., Baur, 252! 314! Natal; without precise locality, 4000–5000 ft., Buchanan, 85!KALAHARI REGION Transvaal; near Lydenburg, Wilms, 1698!WESTERN REGION Great Namaqualand; near Keetmanshoop, Fenchel, 3; near Aus, Schinz, 645, Schenck, 78!
Notes
The variety Galpinii is very distinct from the type in the eastern parts of Cape Colony and in Natal; but in the west, it seems to pass completely into the latter as Captain Wolley Dod's specimens show.

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