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MELINIS minutiflora P. Beauv. [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, page 451, (1982) Author: W. D. CLAYTON and S.A. RENVOIZE
Names
MELINIS minutiflora P. Beauv. [family POACEAE], Ess. Agrost.: 54, fig. 11/4 (1812); E.A. Pasture Plants 2: 30 (1927); F.T.A. 9: 931 (1930); Fl. Agrost. Congo Belge 2: 317 (1934); Ann. list grasses Ug.: 28 (1947); Imp. Grassl. Pl. Kenya: 59 (1951); F.P.N.A. 3: 122 (1955); F.P.S. 3: 488 (1956); R.K.G.: 50 (1958); Ann. list Nyasaland grasses: 48 (1958); I.G.U.: 42 (1960); G.T.: 81 (1965); Clayton in F.W.T.A., ed. 2, 3: 455 (1972). Type: Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, de Jussieu (G, holo.!) Panicum minutiflorum (P. Beauv.) Rasp [family POACEAE], in Ann. Sci. Nat., Bot. 5: 299 (1825) Panicum melinis Trin. [family POACEAE], in Mém. Acad. Sci. Pétersb., sér. 6, 3: 291 (1834), nom. superfl. based on Melinis minutiflora Panicum melinis Doell var. inerme [family POACEAE], in Mart., Fl. Bras. 2 (2): 242 (1877). Type: Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, Glaziou 1166 (K, iso.!) Melinis minutiflora Hack. var. mutica [family POACEAE], in Sitz. Acad. Wien. 89: 126 (1884). Type: Madagascar, Imerina, Hildebrandt 3998 (K, iso.!) Melinis minutiflora (Doell) Rendle var. inermis [family POACEAE], Cat. Afr. Pl. Welw. 2: 200 (1899) Melinis minutiflora Stapf var. pilosa [family POACEAE], in Fl. Cap. 7: 447 (1899). Type: South Africa, Umpumulo, Buchanan 299 (K, holo.!) Melinis tenuinervis Stapf [family POACEAE], in K.B. 1922: 310 (1922); F.T.A. 9: 929 (1930); Fl. Agrost. Congo Belge 2: 315 (1934); F.P.N.A. 3: 121 (1955); F.P.S. 3: 488 (1956); R.K.G.: 50 (1958); Ann. list Nyasaland grasses: 48 (1958); I.G.U.: 41 (1960); G.T.: 81 (1965). Based on M. minutiflora var. pilosa Melinis purpurea Stapf & Hubbard [family POACEAE], in K.B. 1926: 444 (1926); F.T.A. 9: 928 (1930); G.T.: 81 (1965). Type: Tanzania, Rungwe Mt., Stolz 1341 (K, holo.!) Melinis maitlandii Stapf & Hubbard [family POACEAE], in K.B. 1926: 445 (1926); F.T.A. 9: 930 (1930); Fl. Agrost. Congo Belge 2: 316 (1934); Ann. list grasses Ug.: 28 (1947); Ann. list Nyasaland grasses: 48 (1958); I.G.U.: 42 (1960); G.T.: 81 (1965). Type: Uganda, Sese Is., Bufumira, Maitland 360 (K, holo.!) Melinis tenuinervis Peter var. parvispicula [family POACEAE], F.D.O.-A. 1: 157 (1930), nom. nud. Based on Tanzania, Rungwe, Stolz 1302 (K!) & two other specimens now lost Melinis minutiflora (Doell) Stapf & Hubbard forma inermis [family POACEAE], in F.T.A. 9: 932 (1930); Ann. list grasses Ug.: 28 (1947); F.P.N.A. 3: 122 (1956); I.G.U.: 42 (1960) Melinis minutiflora W.D. Clayton var. setigera [family POACEAE], in K.B. 21: 113 (1967) & in F.W.T.A., ed. 2, 3: 455 (1972). Type: Cameroun, Buea, Maitland 102a (K, holo.!)
Information
Perennial; culms ascending, often matted, up to about 1 m. high. Leaf-blades flat, 5–20 cm. long, 3–11 mm. wide, the blades and sheaths tomentose with hairs which are often sticky and sometimes smelling strongly of linseed oil. Panicle lanceolate to narrowly ovate, 10–30 cm. long, dense, often purplish; pedicels scaberulous (very rarely with a few long hairs). Spikelets narrowly oblong, 1.5–2(–2.4) mm. long, glabrous or sometimes hairy; lower glume sometimes almost suppressed, but usually a little oblong scale 0.2–0.5 mm. long; upper glume straight on the back, prominently 7-nerved, these forming raised ribs, obtusely bilobed, with or without a mucro up to 0.5 mm. long; lower floret barren without a palea, the lemma 5-nerved, these forming ribs, acutely bilobed, with an awn up to 15 mm. long or sometimes awnless; upper lemma as long as the palea. Fig. 124.
Range
DISTR. U2–4; K2–5, 7; T1–8 tropical Africa; introduced throughout the tropics as a fodder plant under the name “Molasses Grass”
Altitude range
950–2500 m.
Distribution
KENYA Fort Hall District W. of Blue Posts Hotel, 24 June 1967, Faden 67444!KENYA Embu District Mara R., 25 Feb. 1922, Fries 1966!KENYA Kitui, 11 July 1953, Bogdan 3771!TANZANIA Lushoto District Mkuzi, 8 Apr. 1953, Drummond & Hemsley 2050! & Sangerawe, 24 Oct. 1929, Greenway 1772!TANZANIA Mpanda District Ujamba, 17 July 1958, Mahinda 84!UGANDA Ankole District Rubaare [Rubare] Range, 31 May 1970, Katende 310! & 31 May 1970, Lye 5482!UGANDA Teso District Serere, 25 Oct. 1955, Langdale-Brown 1600!
Notes
Bogdan (in E. Afr. Agric. Journ. 26: 49 (1960)) considers that cross-fertilization between different plants is rare, and that the species is probably apomictic. This could account for the amount of variation found. Apart from the usual form with glabrous awned spikelets, the commoner variants are:— 1. Spikelets awnless (var. inermis) 2. Spikelets pilose with sparse hairs 0,5–1 mm. long at the base and near the tip (W. maitlandii) 3. Spikelets pubescent to pilose all over (var. pilosa) 4. Pedicels with a few long glistening hairs (var. setigera)The hairy variants may signify introgression from M. ambigua; they seem not to be of much taxonomic significance (Bogdan, l.c.).
MELINIS minutiflora P. Beauv. [family POACEAE]
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