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ERAGROSTIS cilianensis (All.) F.T. Hubbard [family POACEAE]

Date Updated: 19 August 2007

Herbarium
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (K)
Collection
Flora of Tropical East Africa
Resource Type
Reference Sources
Entry From
Flora of Tropical East Africa, Part (Part 2), page 177, (1974) Author: W. D. CLAYTON, S. M. PHILLIPS AND S. A. RENVOIZE
Names
ERAGROSTIS cilianensis (All.) F.T. Hubbard [family POACEAE], in Philippine Journ. Sci. Bot. *: 159 (1913) [corrected see note]; Ann. list grasses Ug.: 18 (1947); Imp. grassl. pi. Kenya: 30 (1951); F.P.N.A. 3: 161 (1955); F.P.S. 3: 456 (1956); R.K.G.: 19 (1958); Ann. list Nyasaland grasses: 39 (1958); I.G.U.: 31 (1960); G.T.: 32 (1965); Clayton in F.W.T.A., ed. 2, 3: 390 (1972). Type: Italy, Bellardi (holo. †, TO, iso.) Briza eragrostis L. [family POACEAE], Sp. Pl.: 70 (1753), non Poa eragrostis L. Type: Southern Europe, ? Burser (UPS, holo., K, microfiche !) Poa cilianensis All. [family POACEAE], Fl. Pedem. 2: 246, fig. 91/2 (1785) Briza oblonga Moench [family POACEAE], Meth.: 188 (1794), nom. superfl. Based on Briza eragrostis L. Poa megastachya Koel. [family POACEAE], Descr. Gram.: 181 (1802). Based on Briza eragrostis L. Eragrostis major Host [family POACEAE], Gram. Austr. 4: 14 (1809). Based on Briza eragrostis L. Eragrostis megastachya (Koel.) Link [family POACEAE], Hort. Berol. 1: 187 (1827) Poa cachetica Schumach. [family POACEAE], Beskr. Guin. Pl.: 66 (1827). Type: Ghana, Thonning (C, holo. !) Eragrostis multiflora Chiov. var. insularis [family POACEAE], . in Ann. 1st. Bot. Roma 8: 65 (1903). Type: Ethiopia, Eritrea, Dahlak Archipelago, Terracciano 778 (FI, holo. !) Eragrostis multiflora Chiov. var. glandulifera [family POACEAE], . in Ann. 1st. Bot. Roma 8: 370 (1908). Type: Ethiopia, Eritrea, Assaorta, Pappi 2611 (FI, holo.!) Eragrostis multiflora Chiov. var. subbiloba [family POACEAE], . in Ann. 1st. Bot. Roma 8: 370 (1908). Types: Ethiopia, Eritrea, Mumat Mahader, Pappi 6675 & Adi Ghebsus, Pappi 7248 & Dalul, Pappi 6453 & many other syntypes (all FI, syn. !) Eragrostis major (Chiov.) Chiov. var. subbiloba [family POACEAE], Res. Sci. Miss. Stefan.-Paoli 1: 187 (1916) Eragrostis articulata De Wild. [family POACEAE], in B.J.B.B. 6: 58, fig. 2 (1919), non Nees (1829), nom. illegit. Type: Zaire, Kapiri valley, Homblé 1032 (BR, holo.) Eragrostis pappii Gand. [family POACEAE], in Bull. Soc. Bot. France 66: 299 (1920). Type: Ethiopia, Eritrea, Beni Amer, Pappi 5964 (LY, holo. !) Eragrostis schweinfurthiana Jedw. [family POACEAE], in Bot. Archiv. 5: 194 (1924). Type: Sudan, Gebel Schettol, Schweinfurth 1492 (B, holo.) Eragrostis polysperma Peter [family POACEAE], F.D.O.-A. 1, Anh.: 112 (1930). Type: Tanzania, Masai District, Munge [Lemunge] to Ngorongoro, Peter 43114 (B, holo. †)
Information
Loosely tufted annual; culms 10–90 cm. high, erect or ascending. Leaf-blades flat, up to 15 cm. long, 8 mm. wide, mostly glabrous and usually with a row of warty glands along the margin. Panicle ovate, 4–30 cm. long, fairly dense, contracted, stiffly branched, usually with glands on pedicels and branchlets. Spikelets 5–60-flowered, narrowly ovate to narrowly oblong, rarely linear, 3–20 mm. long, 2–4 mm. wide, pallid yellowish green to leaden grey, breaking up from the base, the rhachilla often breaking off above the glumes before all the lemmas have fallen; glumes subequal, ovate, boat-shaped, 1.5–2.2 mm. long, 1–3-nerved, often glandular on the keel, acute; lemmas broadly ovate to subrotund, (1.7–)2–2.8 mm. long, chartaceous, often glandular on the keel, the lateral nerves distinct, emarginate or obtuse (occasionally bluntly acute) when flattened, usually obtuse in side view; palea ± scabrid on the keels, persistent; anthers 3, 0.3 mm. long. Caryopsis typically subglobose, 0.5(–0.7) mm. long, dark reddish brown, occasionally oblong. Fig. 65.
Range
DISTR. U1–4; K1–7; T1–8 tropical and warm temperate regions of the Old World, including the whole of Africa; introduced to the New World
Altitude range
sea-level to 2300 m.
Distribution
KENYA Northern Frontier Province Moyale, 13 July 1952, Gillett 13580 !KENYA Machakos District Kiboko, 16 Feb. 1949, Bogdan 2253 !KENYA Kwale District Samburu-Taru, 8 Dec. 1961, Polhill & Paulo 906 !TANZANIA Shinyanga, 3 Apr. 1932, B. D. Burtt 2581!TANZANIA Moshi District Engare Rongai-Ngaserai [Ngarisero] Furrow road, 31 Dec. 1961, Greenway & Fuggles Couch-man 10421 !TANZANIA Mbeya District 17–5 km. SW. of Mbeya on Tukuyu road, 12 May 1956, Milne-Redhead & Taylor 10185 !UGANDA Karamoja District Lochoi (? Lochowai), 24 May 1940, A. S. Thomas 3528 !UGANDA Teso District Katakwi, 16 Feb. 1956, Harker 241 !UGANDA Mbale District Bukedi-Bunyole counties [Budama and Bunyuli], 21 June 1927, Snowden 1126 !
Notes
CORRIGENDA (in Gramineae Part 3): p. 232. E. cilianensis (All.) F.T. Hubbard in Phillippine Journ. of Sci. Bot. 8: 159 (1913). The combination cannot be ascribed to Lutati, for he dismissed in favour of E. megastachya. Henrard (in Blumea 3: 420 (1940)) has pointed out that Allioni’s description of Poa cilianensis mentions 3—4 branches per node of the inflorescence, and has suggested that he was in fact describing P. trivialis L. However, the rest of the description, the figure (which shows only 1–2 branches per node), and the isotypes all contradict this view, and I have accepted Lutati’s conclusion that P. cilianensis is synonymous with the plant at one time known as Eragrostis major Host. See Sprague & Hubbard in K.B. 1933: 17 (1933) for full synonymy.  The species is best recognized by the warty glands on the leaf-margins, but unfortunately these are not always present. The rather stiff panicles of yellowish green or leaden grey spikelets are also characteristic. In Africa the species is rather variable, but there are no clear disjunctions upon which to base a subdivision.
ERAGROSTIS cilianensis (All.) F.T. Hubbard [family POACEAE]
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