| Synonyms: |
Eragrostis tenella (L.) Roem. & Schult. Poa amabilis L. Poa tenella L. |
| Common names: | |
| Frequency: | |
| Status: | |
| Description: |
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. |
| Type location: |
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| Notes: | |
| Derivation of specific name: | amabilis: lovely |
| Habitat: | |
| Altitude range: (metres) | |
| Flowering time: | |
| Worldwide distribution: | Throughout the tropics |
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| Endemic status: | |
| Red data list status: | |
| Insects associated with this species: | |
| Spot characters: | Display spot characters for this species |
| Literature: |
Cope, T.A. (1999). Poaceae Flora Zambesiaca 10(2) Pages 71 - 72. Mapaura, A. & Timberlake, J. (eds) (2004). A checklist of Zimbabwean vascular plants Southern African Botanical Diversity Network Report No. 33 Sabonet, Pretoria and Harare Page 103. Ntore, S. & al. (2024). Checklist of the vascular plants of Burundi Page 197. Poilecot, P. (2007). Eragrostis species of Zimbabwe Éditions Quae,Versailles, France Pages 70 - 71. (Includes a picture). Setshogo, M.P. (2005). Preliminary checklist of the plants of Botswana. Sabonet Report no. 37. Sabonet, Pretoria and Gaborone Page 136. |