Chloris virgata
Click on each image to see a larger version and details of the record
Image 1
Spike
03 Mar 2009
Image 2
Detail of spike
03 Mar 2009
| Family: | Poaceae |
| Full name: | Chloris virgata Sw. |
| ID status: | Fairly certain |
| Afrikaans common name(s): | Witpluim chloris, Klossiesgras, Klossiegras, Kwasgras, Vingergras |
| English common name(s): | Feather-top chloris, Feathertop chloris, Feathered chloris, Old lands grass, Sweet grass, Feathered grass |
| Synonym(s): | Chloris brachystachys Andersson fide Fl. Trop. E. Africa Chloris meccana Schltdl. fide Fl. Trop. E. Africa Chloris multiradiata Hochst. fide Fl. Trop. E. Africa Chloris multiradiata Hochst. var. ragazzii Pirotta Chloris notocoma Hochst. Chloris rogeonii A.Chev. Chloris tibestica Quézel |
| Status: | Native |
| Description: | Annual up to 70 cm high, erect or ascending, occasionally rooting at the lower nodes; leaves linear, tapering. Inflorescence a head of 4–8 digitate racemes, these 2.5–5 cm long. Spikelets 3-flowered, 2-awned; fertile lemma obliquely obovate in profile, the keel slightly gibbous, 2–3.6 mm long, shortly ciliate on the margins, flanks and keel, with a crown of spreading hairs 1.5–4 mm long just below the tip, and with an awn 2.5–8.5 mm long; 2nd lemma an oblong glabrous scale; 3rd lemma a clavate glabrous awnless scale. (from JSTOR Global Plants website / Flora Somalia) Robust annual up to 90 cm tall, erect or geniculately ascending, sometimes rooting from the lower nodes; lower sheaths strongly keeled and often flabellate; leaf laminas (2)10–24 cm x 2–6 mm, flat or folded, tapering to a fine point.Inflorescence of 4–12 digitate racemes 4.5–10 cm long.Spikelets (2)3-flowered, 2-awned; inferior glume 2–2.5 mm long; superior glume 3.2–3.6 mm long; floret callus rounded; fertile lemma 2.8–3.2 mm long, obliquely obovate and somewhat gibbous in profile, pallid or dark, ciliate on the margins, keel and flanks and with a subapical crown of hairs 1.5–4 mm long on each side, the awn 8–12 mm long; 2nd lemma oblong, 2–2.5 mm long, glabrous, with an awn 6–9 mm long; 3rd lemma (when present) an awnless clavate scale 0.5–1.2 mm long. (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 |
| Content last updated: | 18 Apr 2024 |
