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Species
Pennisetum clandestinum Hochst. ex. Chiov. (1903)
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NCBI
EOL Text
Perennial, low, sward forming with slender rhizomes and extensive, stouter, much branched stolons. Vegetative shoots up to 20 cm tall, flowering shoots compact, 2–4 cm tall. Leaf sheaths loose, imbricate, subinflated; leaf blades linear, up to 15 × 0.2–0.5 cm on vegetative shoots, 1–4 cm on flowering shoots; ligule ca. 1.2 mm. Inflorescence reduced to 2–4 spikelets enclosed within the uppermost leaf sheath, only spikelet tips protruding; bristles very delicate, 1/2–3/4 as long as spikelet, scaberulous to ciliolate. Spikelets linear-lanceolate, 13–20 mm, acuminate; lower glume absent; upper glume cufflike, 1–3 mm or sometimes absent; lower floret neuter, lower lemma as long as spikelet, 10–13-veined, palea absent; upper lemma similar; anthers long exserted on threadlike filaments up to 5 cm; stigma simple or shortly bifid, up to 3 cm. Fl. and fr. summer–autumn. 2n = 36.
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | eFloras.org Copyright © Missouri Botanical Garden |
Source | http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=242336498 |
Perennials, Terrestrial, not aquatic, Rhizomes present, Rhizome elongate, creeping, stems distant, Stolons or runners present, Stems trailing, spreading or prostrate, Stems nodes swollen or brittle, Stems geniculate, decumbent, or lax, sometimes rooting at nodes, Stems mat or turf forming, Stems terete, round in cross section, or polygonal, Stems branching above base or distally at nodes, Stem internodes solid or spongy, Stem internodes hollow, Stems with inflorescence less than 1 m tall, Stems, culms, or scapes exceeding basal leaves, Leaves mostly cauline, Leaves conspicuously 2-ranked, distichous, Leaves sheathing at base, Leaf sheath mostly open, or loose, Leaf sheath smooth, glabrous, Leaf sheath hairy, hispid or prickly, Leaf sheath and blade differentiated, Leaf sheath enlarged, inflated or distended, Leaf blades linear, Leaf blades 2-10 mm wide, Leaf blades mostly flat, Leaf blade margins folded, involute, or conduplicate, Leaf blades mostly glabrous, Leaf blades more or less hairy, Ligule present, Ligule a fringe of hairs, Inflorescence lateral or axillary, Inflorescence a dense slender spike-like panicle or raceme, branches contracted, Inflorescence solitar y, with 1 spike, fascicle, glomerule, head, or cluster per stem or culm, Inflorescence spike linear or cylindric, several times longer than wide, Inflorescence single raceme, fascicle or spike, Rachis dilated, flat, central axis to which spikelets are attached, Flowers bisexual, Spikelets pedicellate, Spikelets sessile or subsessile, Spikelets dorsally compressed or terete, Inflorescence or spikelets partially hidden in leaf sheaths, subtended by spatheole, Spikelet less than 3 mm wide, Spikelets with 1 fertile floret, Spikelets 1-4 in short bristly fascicles, Spikelets all alike and fertille, Spikelets bisexual, Spikelets disarticulating below the glumes, Spikelets falling with parts of disarticulating rachis or pedicel, Spikelets in bur-like clusters or fascicles with fused bracts, bristles or spines, Spikelets all subtended by bristles, Spikelet bristles 4-many, Spikelet bracts or bristles disarticulating with spikelet, Glumes completely absent or reduced to cuplike str ucture, Glumes present, empty bracts, Glumes 1 clearly present, the other greatly reduced or absent, Glumes distinctly unequal, Glumes shorter than adjacent lemma, Lemmas thin, chartaceous, hyaline, cartilaginous, or membranous, Lemma similar in texture to glumes, Lemma 5-7 nerved, Lemma 8-15 nerved, Lemma glabrous, Lemma apex acute or acuminate, Lemma awnless, Lemma margins thin, lying flat, Lemma straight, Palea present, well developed, Palea membranous, hyaline, Palea about equal to lemma, Palea 2 nerved or 2 keeled, Stamens 3, Styles 1, Styles 2-fid, deeply 2-branched, Stigmas 2, Fruit - caryopsis.
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | Compiled from several sources by Dr. David Bogler, Missouri Botanical Garden in collaboration with the USDA NRCS NPDC |
Source | http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=PECL2 |
"Culms densely tufted, matty, prostrate, and stoloniferous, to 3(15)cm. Leaf-blades involute or flat, 1.5-5(12) x 0.2-0.4(0.6) cm., glabrescent, scaberulous on margins; ligule a rim of dense cilia, to 0.15 cm. Plants dioecious. Racemes of 2-4-spikelets, enclosed almost completely by uppermost leaf-sheaths. Spikelets linear-lanceolate, to 1.5 cm; terminal spikelets pedicelled, others(sub)sessile; involucral bristles unequal, to 1.2 cm, scabrid. Lower glume minute, to 0.05 cm; upper glume ovate-acuminate, to 0.8 cm, membranous; lower lemma lanceolate, to 1.5 cm, membranous, epaleate. Upper lemma similar to lower lemma, to 1.3 cm; palea linear-lanceolate, to 1.2 cm. Style long-exserted, to 4 cm. Stamens 3; filaments to 3 cm."
Isotype for Pennisetum longistylum Hochst. ex A. Rich.
Catalog Number: US 1061598
Collection: Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Department of Botany
Verification Degree: Card file verified by examination of alleged type specimen
Preparation: Pressed specimen
Collector(s): G. H. W. Schimper
Year Collected: 1837
Locality: Schonkor., Ethiopia, Africa
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | This image was obtained from the Smithsonian Institution. Unless otherwise noted, this image or its contents may be protected by international copyright laws. |
Source | http://collections.mnh.si.edu/search/botany/?irn=2148760 |
Isotype for Pennisetum longistylum Hochst. ex A. Rich.
Catalog Number: US 945047
Collection: Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Department of Botany
Verification Degree: Card file verified by examination of alleged type specimen
Preparation: Pressed specimen
Collector(s): G. H. W. Schimper
Year Collected: 1837
Locality: Ad ripas depressas prope Adoam., Ethiopia, Africa
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | This image was obtained from the Smithsonian Institution. Unless otherwise noted, this image or its contents may be protected by international copyright laws. |
Source | http://collections.mnh.si.edu/search/botany/?irn=10298503 |
A dense, mat-forming grass, growing from both stolons and rhizomes. It has no clearly visible inflorescences, only the white filaments and feathery stigmas may be visible (photo right).
Isotype for Pennisetum longistylum Hochst. ex A. Rich.
Catalog Number: US 3243715
Collection: Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Department of Botany
Verification Degree: Card file verified by examination of alleged type specimen
Preparation: Pressed specimen
Collector(s): G. H. W. Schimper
Year Collected: 1837
Locality: Ad ripas depressas prope Adoam., Ethiopia, Africa
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | This image was obtained from the Smithsonian Institution. Unless otherwise noted, this image or its contents may be protected by international copyright laws. |
Source | http://collections.mnh.si.edu/search/botany/?irn=2103542 |
clandestinum: clandestine, referring to the invisible inflorescences.
Isotype for Pennisetum longistylum Hochst. ex A. Rich.
Catalog Number: US 1649623
Collection: Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Department of Botany
Verification Degree: Card file verified by examination of alleged type specimen
Preparation: Pressed specimen
Collector(s): G. H. W. Schimper
Locality: Africa
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | This image was obtained from the Smithsonian Institution. Unless otherwise noted, this image or its contents may be protected by international copyright laws. |
Source | http://collections.mnh.si.edu/search/botany/?irn=10299031 |
Flowering class: Monocot Habit: Herb Distribution notes: Exotic