Edit History
Eragrostis amabilis L. Hook. & Arn. [family GRAMINEAE]
Date Updated: 26 July 2007
Herbarium
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (K)
Collection
Flora Zambesiaca
Resource Type
Reference Sources
Entry From
FZ, Vol 10, Part 2, (1999) Author: T. Cope
Names
Eragrostis tenella L. P. Beauv. ex Roem. & Schult. [family GRAMINEAE], Syst. Veg. 2: 576 (1817). —Stent & Rattray in Proc. & Trans. Rhodesia Sci. Assoc. 32: 58 (1933). —Sturgeon in Rhodesia Agric. J. 51: 306 (1954). —Chippindall in Meredith, Grasses & Pastures of South Africa: 181 (1955). —Simon in Kirkia 8: 28 & 62 (1971). —Clayton in F.T.E.A., Gramineae: 206 (1974). —Gibbs Russell et al., Grasses Southern Africa [Mem. Bot. Surv. S. Africa No. 58]: 162 (1990).
Eragrostis amabilis L. Hook. & Arn. [family GRAMINEAE], Bot. Beechey Voy.: 251 (1838). Type from India.
Poa amabilis L. [family GRAMINEAE], Sp. Pl. 1: 68 (1753).
Poa tenella L. [family GRAMINEAE], Sp. Pl. 1: 69 (1753). Type from India.
Information
Delicate, loosely caespitose annual; culms up to 50 cm tall, erect or ascending, mostly unbranched, glabrous at the nodes, with yellowish non-sticky glands below the nodes; leaf sheaths eglandular; ligule a line of hairs; leaf laminas 1–9 cm × 2–4 mm, linear, flat or with involute margins, glabrous, eglandular.Panicle 2–14 cm long, elliptic to pyramidal, rather dense to ± open, the spikelets evenly distributed on short pedicels 0.5–1 mm long, the primary branches not in whorls, terminating in a fertile spikelet, glabrous or pilose in the axils, the branches and pedicels with oblong yellowish non-sticky glands.Spikelets 1.5–2.5 × 0.9–1.2 mm, oblong-ovate, lightly laterally compressed, 4–8-flowered, the florets disarticulating from the apex downwards, the rhachilla fragile; glumes subequal, 0.5–1 mm long, reaching to beyond the middle of the adjacent lemmas, lightly keeled, narrowly ovate to lanceolate in profile, glabrous, acute at the apex; lemmas 0.7–1 mm long, lightly keeled, oblong-ovate in profile, membranous with distinct lateral nerves, diverging from the rhachilla at c. 45°, those in opposite rows not imbricate, the rhachilla visible between them, purplish, smooth or scaberulous, broadly obtuse at the apex; palea glabrous on the flanks, the keels slender, wingless, ciliate with tubercle-based hairs 0.1–0.3 mm long; anthers 3, 0.2–0.4 mm long.Caryopsis 0.4–0.5 mm long, elliptic.
Habitat
In sand on river banks, lake-shores and coastal dunes; also in Kalahari Sand and as a weed of disturbed ground and cultivation
Range
Throughout the tropics
Altitude range
0–1160 m.
1160
0
Distribution
Mozambique M Maputo (Lourenço Marques), Tunduru (Vasco da Gama) Garden, 28.iv.1971, Balsinhas 1842 (COI; K; SRGH).Mozambique GI Massinga Distr., 5 km south of Massinga, ii.1938, Gomes e Sousa 2068 (BM; COI; K).Mozambique MS Sofala Prov., Macúti, 0 m, 7.v.1969, A.O. Crook 887 (K; SRGH).Mozambique Z Mocuba Distr., Namagoa, 6.v.1948, Faulkner 260 (K).Zambia S Namwala Distr., Kafue National Park, Ngoma Game Camp, 20.ii.1969, Anton-Smith 435 (SRGH).Zambia E Luangwa Escarpment, Lusangazi R., 14.iv.1963, Verboom 955 (BM; SRGH).Mozambique N Namapa, C.I.C.A. Experimental Station, 30.iii.1961, Balsinhas & Marrime 328 (BM; COI; K; SRGH).Malawi C Salima Distr., Grand Beach Hotel, iv.1972, G. Williamson 2181 (SRGH).Zimbabwe W Umgusa Distr., Gusu Ridge, Khami River, 1160 m, 29.ii.1960, Vaughan-Evans 85 (SRGH).Zambia N Lake Tanganyika, Mpulungu Govt. Rest House, 700 m, Osterkamp 7 (K).Botswana N near the Kwando/Linyanti R. confluence, 4.ii.1978, P.A. Smith 2353 (K; SRGH).
Notes
Although the name used for this species has been ‘E. tenella’ since 1897, Nicolson et al. (in Regnum Vegetabile 119: 309 (1988)) have indicated that it should be E. amabilis.Nobody doubts that Poa tenella and P. amabilis are conspecific, but since the epithets were published simultaneously by Linnaeus in 1753, the first authority to unite them must be followed with respect to choice of epithet.It seems that Munro did this in 1862 and chose amabilis rather than tenella.The late discovery of this fact has necessitated an inconvenient and regrettable change of name for a common pantropical species.
Date Updated: 26 July 2007
Herbarium
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (K)
Collection
Flora Zambesiaca
Resource Type
Reference Sources
Entry From
FZ, Vol 10, Part 2, (1999) Author: T. Cope
Names
Eragrostis tenella L. P. Beauv. ex Roem. & Schult. [family GRAMINEAE], Syst. Veg. 2: 576 (1817). —Stent & Rattray in Proc. & Trans. Rhodesia Sci. Assoc. 32: 58 (1933). —Sturgeon in Rhodesia Agric. J. 51: 306 (1954). —Chippindall in Meredith, Grasses & Pastures of South Africa: 181 (1955). —Simon in Kirkia 8: 28 & 62 (1971). —Clayton in F.T.E.A., Gramineae: 206 (1974). —Gibbs Russell et al., Grasses Southern Africa [Mem. Bot. Surv. S. Africa No. 58]: 162 (1990).
Eragrostis amabilis L. Hook. & Arn. [family GRAMINEAE], Bot. Beechey Voy.: 251 (1838). Type from India.
Poa amabilis L. [family GRAMINEAE], Sp. Pl. 1: 68 (1753).
Poa tenella L. [family GRAMINEAE], Sp. Pl. 1: 69 (1753). Type from India.
Information
Delicate, loosely caespitose annual; culms up to 50 cm tall, erect or ascending, mostly unbranched, glabrous at the nodes, with yellowish non-sticky glands below the nodes; leaf sheaths eglandular; ligule a line of hairs; leaf laminas 1–9 cm × 2–4 mm, linear, flat or with involute margins, glabrous, eglandular.Panicle 2–14 cm long, elliptic to pyramidal, rather dense to ± open, the spikelets evenly distributed on short pedicels 0.5–1 mm long, the primary branches not in whorls, terminating in a fertile spikelet, glabrous or pilose in the axils, the branches and pedicels with oblong yellowish non-sticky glands.Spikelets 1.5–2.5 × 0.9–1.2 mm, oblong-ovate, lightly laterally compressed, 4–8-flowered, the florets disarticulating from the apex downwards, the rhachilla fragile; glumes subequal, 0.5–1 mm long, reaching to beyond the middle of the adjacent lemmas, lightly keeled, narrowly ovate to lanceolate in profile, glabrous, acute at the apex; lemmas 0.7–1 mm long, lightly keeled, oblong-ovate in profile, membranous with distinct lateral nerves, diverging from the rhachilla at c. 45°, those in opposite rows not imbricate, the rhachilla visible between them, purplish, smooth or scaberulous, broadly obtuse at the apex; palea glabrous on the flanks, the keels slender, wingless, ciliate with tubercle-based hairs 0.1–0.3 mm long; anthers 3, 0.2–0.4 mm long.Caryopsis 0.4–0.5 mm long, elliptic.
Habitat
In sand on river banks, lake-shores and coastal dunes; also in Kalahari Sand and as a weed of disturbed ground and cultivation
Range
Throughout the tropics
Altitude range
0–1160 m.
1160
0
Distribution
Mozambique M Maputo (Lourenço Marques), Tunduru (Vasco da Gama) Garden, 28.iv.1971, Balsinhas 1842 (COI; K; SRGH).Mozambique GI Massinga Distr., 5 km south of Massinga, ii.1938, Gomes e Sousa 2068 (BM; COI; K).Mozambique MS Sofala Prov., Macúti, 0 m, 7.v.1969, A.O. Crook 887 (K; SRGH).Mozambique Z Mocuba Distr., Namagoa, 6.v.1948, Faulkner 260 (K).Zambia S Namwala Distr., Kafue National Park, Ngoma Game Camp, 20.ii.1969, Anton-Smith 435 (SRGH).Zambia E Luangwa Escarpment, Lusangazi R., 14.iv.1963, Verboom 955 (BM; SRGH).Mozambique N Namapa, C.I.C.A. Experimental Station, 30.iii.1961, Balsinhas & Marrime 328 (BM; COI; K; SRGH).Malawi C Salima Distr., Grand Beach Hotel, iv.1972, G. Williamson 2181 (SRGH).Zimbabwe W Umgusa Distr., Gusu Ridge, Khami River, 1160 m, 29.ii.1960, Vaughan-Evans 85 (SRGH).Zambia N Lake Tanganyika, Mpulungu Govt. Rest House, 700 m, Osterkamp 7 (K).Botswana N near the Kwando/Linyanti R. confluence, 4.ii.1978, P.A. Smith 2353 (K; SRGH).
Notes
Although the name used for this species has been ‘E. tenella’ since 1897, Nicolson et al. (in Regnum Vegetabile 119: 309 (1988)) have indicated that it should be E. amabilis.Nobody doubts that Poa tenella and P. amabilis are conspecific, but since the epithets were published simultaneously by Linnaeus in 1753, the first authority to unite them must be followed with respect to choice of epithet.It seems that Munro did this in 1862 and chose amabilis rather than tenella.The late discovery of this fact has necessitated an inconvenient and regrettable change of name for a common pantropical species.
Date Updated: 26 July 2007
Herbarium
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (K)
Collection
Flora Zambesiaca
Resource Type
Reference Sources
Entry From
FZ, Vol 10, Part 2, (1999) Author: T. Cope
Names
Eragrostis tenella L. P. Beauv. ex Roem. & Schult. [family GRAMINEAE], Syst. Veg. 2: 576 (1817). —Stent & Rattray in Proc. & Trans. Rhodesia Sci. Assoc. 32: 58 (1933). —Sturgeon in Rhodesia Agric. J. 51: 306 (1954). —Chippindall in Meredith, Grasses & Pastures of South Africa: 181 (1955). —Simon in Kirkia 8: 28 & 62 (1971). —Clayton in F.T.E.A., Gramineae: 206 (1974). —Gibbs Russell et al., Grasses Southern Africa [Mem. Bot. Surv. S. Africa No. 58]: 162 (1990).
Eragrostis amabilis L. Hook. & Arn. [family GRAMINEAE], Bot. Beechey Voy.: 251 (1838). Type from India.
Poa amabilis L. [family GRAMINEAE], Sp. Pl. 1: 68 (1753).
Poa tenella L. [family GRAMINEAE], Sp. Pl. 1: 69 (1753). Type from India.
Information
Delicate, loosely caespitose annual; culms up to 50 cm tall, erect or ascending, mostly unbranched, glabrous at the nodes, with yellowish non-sticky glands below the nodes; leaf sheaths eglandular; ligule a line of hairs; leaf laminas 1–9 cm × 2–4 mm, linear, flat or with involute margins, glabrous, eglandular.Panicle 2–14 cm long, elliptic to pyramidal, rather dense to ± open, the spikelets evenly distributed on short pedicels 0.5–1 mm long, the primary branches not in whorls, terminating in a fertile spikelet, glabrous or pilose in the axils, the branches and pedicels with oblong yellowish non-sticky glands.Spikelets 1.5–2.5 × 0.9–1.2 mm, oblong-ovate, lightly laterally compressed, 4–8-flowered, the florets disarticulating from the apex downwards, the rhachilla fragile; glumes subequal, 0.5–1 mm long, reaching to beyond the middle of the adjacent lemmas, lightly keeled, narrowly ovate to lanceolate in profile, glabrous, acute at the apex; lemmas 0.7–1 mm long, lightly keeled, oblong-ovate in profile, membranous with distinct lateral nerves, diverging from the rhachilla at c. 45°, those in opposite rows not imbricate, the rhachilla visible between them, purplish, smooth or scaberulous, broadly obtuse at the apex; palea glabrous on the flanks, the keels slender, wingless, ciliate with tubercle-based hairs 0.1–0.3 mm long; anthers 3, 0.2–0.4 mm long.Caryopsis 0.4–0.5 mm long, elliptic.
Habitat
In sand on river banks, lake-shores and coastal dunes; also in Kalahari Sand and as a weed of disturbed ground and cultivation
Range
Throughout the tropics
Altitude range
0–1160 m.
1160
0
Distribution
Mozambique M Maputo (Lourenço Marques), Tunduru (Vasco da Gama) Garden, 28.iv.1971, Balsinhas 1842 (COI; K; SRGH).Mozambique GI Massinga Distr., 5 km south of Massinga, ii.1938, Gomes e Sousa 2068 (BM; COI; K).Mozambique MS Sofala Prov., Macúti, 0 m, 7.v.1969, A.O. Crook 887 (K; SRGH).Mozambique Z Mocuba Distr., Namagoa, 6.v.1948, Faulkner 260 (K).Zambia S Namwala Distr., Kafue National Park, Ngoma Game Camp, 20.ii.1969, Anton-Smith 435 (SRGH).Zambia E Luangwa Escarpment, Lusangazi R., 14.iv.1963, Verboom 955 (BM; SRGH).Mozambique N Namapa, C.I.C.A. Experimental Station, 30.iii.1961, Balsinhas & Marrime 328 (BM; COI; K; SRGH).Malawi C Salima Distr., Grand Beach Hotel, iv.1972, G. Williamson 2181 (SRGH).Zimbabwe W Umgusa Distr., Gusu Ridge, Khami River, 1160 m, 29.ii.1960, Vaughan-Evans 85 (SRGH).Zambia N Lake Tanganyika, Mpulungu Govt. Rest House, 700 m, Osterkamp 7 (K).Botswana N near the Kwando/Linyanti R. confluence, 4.ii.1978, P.A. Smith 2353 (K; SRGH).
Notes
Although the name used for this species has been ‘E. tenella’ since 1897, Nicolson et al. (in Regnum Vegetabile 119: 309 (1988)) have indicated that it should be E. amabilis.Nobody doubts that Poa tenella and P. amabilis are conspecific, but since the epithets were published simultaneously by Linnaeus in 1753, the first authority to unite them must be followed with respect to choice of epithet.It seems that Munro did this in 1862 and chose amabilis rather than tenella.The late discovery of this fact has necessitated an inconvenient and regrettable change of name for a common pantropical species.
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