GrassBase - The Online World Grass Flora

Descriptions

W.D. Clayton, M. Vorontsova, K.T. Harman & H. Williamson

© Copyright The Board of Trustees, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Urelytrum henrardii

HABIT Perennial; caespitose. Culms erect; 60–90 cm long. Leaves mostly basal. Leaf-sheath oral hairs bearded. Ligule an eciliate membrane; 0.8–1.25 mm long. Leaf-blades flat, or conduplicate; 20–40 cm long; 3–4 mm wide. Leaf-blade margins scabrous. Leaf-blade apex attenuate.

INFLORESCENCE Inflorescence composed of racemes.

Racemes 1; single; straight; smoothly terete; 10–30 cm long. Rhachis fragile at the nodes; semiterete; glabrous on surface; ciliate on margins. Rhachis internodes oblong. Rhachis internode tip oblique; crateriform; with scarious rim.

Spikelets sunken; in pairs. Fertile spikelets sessile; 1 in the cluster. Companion sterile spikelets pedicelled; 1 in the cluster. Pedicels oblong; flattened; glabrous; tip cupuliform.

STERILE SPIKELETS Companion sterile spikelets rudimentary; ovate; 1.5–2.5 mm long; shorter than fertile; persistent. Companion sterile spikelet glumes coriaceous; 5 -veined; muticous, or awned; one glume awned; with 0–12.5 mm long awn.

FERTILE SPIKELETS Spikelets comprising 1 basal sterile florets; 1 fertile florets; without rhachilla extension. Spikelets lanceolate, or oblong; dorsally compressed; 7.5–8.2 mm long; falling entire; deciduous with accessory branch structures. Spikelet callus square; pubescent; base obtuse; inserted.

GLUMES Glumes dissimilar; exceeding apex of florets; firmer than fertile lemma. Lower glume lanceolate; 1 length of spikelet; coriaceous; without keels; keel-less except near apex; 5 -veined. Lower glume surface convex; smooth; glabrous. Lower glume apex acute. Upper glume ovate; membranous; 1-keeled; 3 -veined.

FLORETS Basal sterile florets male; with palea. Lemma of lower sterile floret lanceolate, or ovate; 6–6.5 mm long; hyaline; 2 -veined; ciliolate on margins; dentate; 2 -fid. Fertile lemma oblong, or ovate; hyaline; without keel; 3 -veined. Lemma apex acute. Palea lanceolate; hyaline.

FLOWER Anthers 3; 3 mm long.

DISTRIBUTION Africa: west-central tropical, southern tropical, and south.

NOTES Andropogoneae. WDC.

Please cite this publication as detailed in How to Cite Version: 3rd February 2016.