Melinis repens
| Family: | Poaceae |
| Full name: | Melinis repens (Willd.) Zizka |
| Location: | Kyffhäuser (2416AD + 2416CB) |
| ID status: | Fairly certain |
| Afrikaans common name(s): | Natal rooipluim |
| English common name(s): | Natal red top, Natal grass, Holme's grass, Blanket grass |
| Synonym(s): | - |
| Status: | Native |
| Description: | Tufted annual to short-lived perennial. Culms 20–150 cm high, geniculately ascending and often rooting at lower nodes. Leaf laminae 4–20(27) cm long, 2–12(14) mm wide, flat. Panicle (6)8–20 cm long, broadly ovate; pedicels with a few long hairs. Spikelets 2–12 mm long, ovate. Inferior glume (0.3)0.6–3(4.3) mm long, narrowly ovate, 0–1-nerved, separated from the superior by an internode (0.1)0.2–1.7(2) mm long; superior glume 5-nerved, membranous to subcoriaceous, usually gibbous on the back, hairy or glabrous, often tapering to a glabrous beak, emarginate, awned or mucronate. Inferior floret male, its lemma 5-nerved, resembling the superior glume but less gibbous, the palea ciliate on its keels.Very variable and formerly divided into 2–4 species according to hairiness of the spikelet, growth-form and length of the internode between the glumes. Hairiness and colour of the spikelet, as well as growth-form, prove to be of no taxonomic value. Four weakly separated infraspecific groups (3 in the Flora Zambesiaca region) are recognized. Typical specimens can be identified easily, but frequent intergradation occurs between the infraspecific groups.The length of the internode between the glumes varies quite continuously but, together with spikelet length, is the best character for separating the three groups. Single specimens approach M. ambigua subsp. longicauda and M. nerviglumis (introgression?). If the basal parts are missing, discrimination between M. repens and M. subglabra is hardly possible. (from JSTOR Global Plants website / Flora Zambesiaca) |
| Link(s) |
African Plant Database
JSTOR Plant Science Kew Herbarium Catalogue BGBM Berlin-Dahlem - Virtual Herbarium Züricher Herbarien iNaturalist (Namibia / Alex Dreyer) iNaturalist (Namibia) iNaturalist (southern Africa) Flora of Zimbabwe Fleurs de notre Terre - Galerie Namibie Tree Atlas of Namibia |
| Photographer: | AA Dreyer |
| Date of photograph: | 03 May 2008 |
| Camera make: | Canon |
| Camera model: | PowerShot A700 |
| Lens aperture: | f/4.0 |
| Shutter speed: | 1/320 s |
| ISO speed: | - |
| Content last updated: | 18 Apr 2024 |
