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This species is accepted, and its native range is Sierra Leone, Nigeria to Cameroon, Tanzania to S. Africa, Madagascar.

[GB]
Habit
Perennial; caespitose. Culms erect; 20-60 cm long. Ligule a ciliolate membrane. Leaf-blades filiform; 5-30 cm long; 1 mm wide.
Inflorescences
Inflorescence composed of racemes. Racemes 1; single; erect; smoothly terete; bilateral; 5-16 cm long. Rhachis fragile at the nodes; subcylindrical and excavated; 1 mm wide. Spikelet packing abaxial. Rhachis internodes oblong; 5-10 mm long. Rhachis internode tip oblique. Spikelets sunken; solitary. Fertile spikelets sessile.
Spikelets
Spikelets comprising 1 basal sterile florets; 1 fertile florets; without rhachilla extension. Spikelets lanceolate; dorsally compressed; 3-6 mm long; falling entire; deciduous with accessory branch structures. Spikelet callus square; 0.5-1 mm long; glabrous; base obtuse; attached obliquely.
Fertile
Spikelets comprising 1 basal sterile florets; 1 fertile florets; without rhachilla extension. Spikelets lanceolate; dorsally compressed; 3-6 mm long; falling entire; deciduous with accessory branch structures. Spikelet callus square; 0.5-1 mm long; glabrous; base obtuse; attached obliquely.
Glume
Glumes dissimilar; reaching apex of florets; firmer than fertile lemma. Lower glume lanceolate; 1 length of upper glume; 1 length of spikelet; coriaceous; purple; without keels; 6-7 -veined. Lower glume apex obtuse. Upper glume oblong; chartaceous.
Florets
Basal sterile florets barren; without significant palea. Lemma of lower sterile floret similar to upper glume; oblong; 2.5-3.8 mm long; 0.75 length of spikelet; hyaline; 0-2 -veined. Fertile lemma oblong; 2.5-3.5 mm long; hyaline; without keel; 2 -veined. Lemma apex truncate. Palea present, or absent or minute; 0-0.2 length of lemma; without keels.
Distribution
Africa: west tropical, west-central tropical, east tropical, southern tropical, south, and western Indian ocean.
Reference
Andropogoneae. FTEA.

[FWTA]

Gramineae, W. D. Clayton. Flora of West Tropical Africa 3:2. 1972

Habit
Caespitose perennial with filiform leaves
Ecology
Marshy soils.

[FTEA]

Gramineae, W. D. Clayton, S. M. Phillips & S. A. Renvoize. Flora of Tropical East Africa. 1974

Habit
Densely tufted perennial; culms 20–60 cm. high.
Leaves
Leaf-blades filiform, 5–30 cm. long.
Inflorescences
Spikes 5–16 cm. long, slender, long-exserted, purplish.
Spikelets
Spikelet narrowly lanceolate, embedded in the internode; lower glume 3–6 mm. long, obtuse.
Figures
Fig. 204.
Habitat
Upland bogs; 2000–2300 m.
Distribution
T7

[FZ]

Gramineae, T. A. Cope. Flora Zambesiaca 10:4. 2002

Habit
Densely caespitose perennial; culms up to 60 cm high.
Leaf lamina
Leaf laminas 5–30 cm long, filiform.
Inflorescences
Racemes 5–16 cm long, slender, long-exserted, purplish.
Spikelets
Spikelet narrowly lanceolate, embedded in the internode; inferior glume 3–6 mm long, obtuse at the apex.

Native to:

Cameroon, Cape Provinces, KwaZulu-Natal, Madagascar, Mozambique, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Zambia

Oxyrhachis gracillima (Baker) C.E.Hubb. appears in other Kew resources:

Date Reference Identified As Barcode Type Status
Nov 1, 1966 Jaeger [9485], Sierra Leone K000290832 isotype

First published in Hooker's Icon. Pl. 35: t. 3454 (1947)

Accepted by

  • Onana, J.M. (2011). The vascular plants of Cameroon a taxonomic checklist with IUCN assessments: 1-195. National herbarium of Cameroon, Yaoundé.
  • Clayton, W.D., Harman, K.T. & Williamson, H. (2006). World Grass Species - Synonymy database The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
  • Germishuizen, G. & Meyer, N.L. (eds.) (2003). Plants of Southern Africa: an annotated checklist. Strelitzia 14.: i-vi, 1-1231. National Botanical Institute, Pretoria.
  • Cope, T.A. (2002). Flora Zambesiaca 10(4): 1-190. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
  • Clayton, W.D. & Renvoize, S.A. (1982). Gramineae Flora of Tropical East Africa 3: 451-898.
  • Hepper, F.N. (ed.) (1972). Flora of West Tropical Africa, ed. 2, 3(2): 277-574.
  • Bosser, J. (1969). Gramiées des pasturages et des cultures a Madagascar: 1-440. ORSTOM, Paris.

Literature

Flora of West Tropical Africa

  • incl. subsp. occidentalis Gledhill in Bol. Soc. Brot. 41: 61 (1967).
  • in Hook., Ic. Pl. t. 3454 (1947)

Kew Backbone Distributions

  • Germishuizen, G. & Meyer, N.L. (eds.) (2003). Plants of Southern Africa: an annotated checklist. Strelitzia 14.: i-vi, 1-1231. National Botanical Institute, Pretoria.
  • Cope, T.A. (2002). Flora Zambesiaca 10(4): 1-190. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
  • Hepper, F.N. (ed.) (1972). Flora of West Tropical Africa, ed. 2, 3(2): 277-574.

Flora of Tropical East Africa

  • Clayton in Flora of West Tropical Africa, ed. 2, 3: 506 (1972).
  • D.M. Napper, Grasses of Tanganyika: 112 (1965).
  • C.E. Hubbard in Hook., Ic. Pl. 35, t. 3454 (1947).

Flora Zambesiaca
Flora Zambesiaca
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Flora of Tropical East Africa
Flora of Tropical East Africa
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Flora of West Tropical Africa
Flora of West Tropical Africa
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GrassBase - The Online World Grass Flora
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Herbarium Catalogue Specimens
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Kew Backbone Distributions
The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families 2021. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/
© Copyright 2017 World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone
The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families 2021. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/
© Copyright 2017 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0