The World Flora Online

Tufted perennial up to 700 mm high; basal sheaths hairy to nearly glabrous; culm with punctate or crateriform glands; nodes glabrous and with annular glandular patch below. Leaf blade 50-140 x 0.5-2.0(4.5) mm, involute or expanded; eglandular. Inflorescence 100300 mm long, open, branches stiff, punctate or crateriform glands present; lowest branches not whorled; pedicels with annular glands; spikelets evenly distributed. Spikelet 5-10 x 2.5-4.0 mm; rachilla persistent, breaking up from below upwards; glumes subequal, lanceolate in side view, apex acute, reaching 2/3-3/4 up lemma above; lemma 1.8-2.1 mm long, subacute, olive-green to grey, membranous, keeled, lateral nerves indistinct; palea keels wingless, margins wide apart, narrowing upwards between keels and margins; anther 1.0-1.3 mm long; caryopsis oblong.

Similar to E. sclerantha, which has anthers 0.7-1.0 mm long and basal sheaths densely woolly hairy.

Mountain grassland.

Zimbabwe (Chimanimani Mts). M.

Caryopsis 0.8–1 mm long, oblong. Panicle 10–22(30) cm long, ovate-oblong or elliptic, open with stiff branches, the spikelets evenly distributed on pedicels 2–5 mm long, the primary branches not in whorls, terminating in a fertile spikelet, glabrous in the axils, the axis, primary branches, branchlets and pedicels with punctate or crateriform glands, the branchlets and pedicels also with annular glands. Spikelets 5–10 × 2.5–4 mm, elliptic-oblong, laterally compressed, 8–14-flowered, the lemmas disarticulating from below upwards, the rhachilla persistent; glumes subequal, 1.4–1.6 mm long, reaching to between 2/3 and 3/4 the way along the adjacent lemmas, keeled, lanceolate in profile, scaberulous on the keel, acute at the apex; lemmas 1.8–2.1 mm long, keeled, elliptic-ovate in profile, membranous with indistinct lateral nerves, diverging from the rhachilla at less than 45°, those in opposite rows imbricate and concealing the rhachilla, olive-green to leaden-grey, scaberulous on the keel, subacute at the apex; palea persistent, glabrous on the flanks, the keels slender, wingless, minutely ciliolate; anthers 3, 1–1.2 mm long. Densely caespitose perennial without rhizomes or stolons; culms up to 70 cm tall, erect, unbranched, glabrous at the nodes, with an annular glandular patch below the nodes and punctate or crateriform glands on the internodes; basal leaf sheaths densely and shortly pilose to glabrescent below, chartaceous, terete or lightly compressed, eglandular, persistent; ligule a line of hairs; leaf laminas 5–14 cm × 0.5–2(4.5) mm, involute and ± filiform or flat and narrowly linear, glabrous to densely pilose, eglandular. Panicle 10–22(30) cm long, ovate-oblong or elliptic, open with stiff branches, the spikelets evenly distributed on pedicels 2–5 mm long, the primary branches not in whorls, terminating in a fertile spikelet, glabrous in the axils, the axis, primary branches, branchlets and pedicels with punctate or crateriform glands, the branchlets and pedicels also with annular glands. Spikelets 5–10 × 2.5–4 mm, elliptic-oblong, laterally compressed, 8–14-flowered, the lemmas disarticulating from below upwards, the rhachilla persistent; glumes subequal, 1.4–1.6 mm long, reaching to between 2/3 and 3/4 the way along the adjacent lemmas, keeled, lanceolate in profile, scaberulous on the keel, acute at the apex; lemmas 1.8–2.1 mm long, keeled, elliptic-ovate in profile, membranous with indistinct lateral nerves, diverging from the rhachilla at less than 45°, those in opposite rows imbricate and concealing the rhachilla, olive-green to leaden-grey, scaberulous on the keel, subacute at the apex; palea persistent, glabrous on the flanks, the keels slender, wingless, minutely ciliolate; anthers 3, 1–1.2 mm long. Densely caespitose perennial without rhizomes or stolons; culms up to 70 cm tall, erect, unbranched, glabrous at the nodes, with an annular glandular patch below the nodes and punctate or crateriform glands on the internodes; basal leaf sheaths densely and shortly pilose to glabrescent below, chartaceous, terete or lightly compressed, eglandular, persistent; ligule a line of hairs; leaf laminas 5–14 cm × 0.5–2(4.5) mm, involute and ± filiform or flat and narrowly linear, glabrous to densely pilose, eglandular.