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Graminae
Synonyms
C. myriostachya Hochst.
Common names
Horsetail grass and plume chloris (Zimbabwe).
Description
A tufted perennial with culms up to about 120 cm high; lowest
leaf- sheaths usually white or straw-coloured; panicle 5-15 cm long, straw-coloured
or purple; spikelets long-awned (Meredith, 1955). It has characteristically
flat shoot bases and dense, feathery panicles which are pale green or purple
when young (Bogdan & Pratt, 1967).
Distribution
In Africa, in Botswana and north and north-east Transvaal,
often on old termite nesting grounds.
Season of growth
Summer.
Altitude range
Sea-level to 1 500 m.
Rainfall requirements
A single-season rainfall of 500-625 mm (Bogdan & Pratt,
1967).
Drought tolerance
It is drought tolerant (Bogdan & Pratt, 1967).
Soil requirements
Loose sandy soils, loams and alluvial silts (Bogdan & Pratt,
1967).
Sowing time and rate
In summer, at 100-200 g/ha of scarified naked caryopses.
Number of seeds per kg.
6.6 million naked caryopses (Bogdan & Pratt, 1967).
Seed treatment before
planting
Free the caryopses from the spikelets. Treat the seed with
an insecticide such as Aldrin (Bogdan & Pratt, 1967).
Response to fire
It is severely affected by fire (Skovlin, 1971).
Palatability
Very succulent early spring growth.
Chemical analysis and
digestibility
It has up to 16 percent crude protein in the dry matter at
the early flowering stage. The crude fibre content at this stage is around
30 percent of the dry matter (Bogdan & Pratt, 1967).
Genetics and reproduction
2n=20.
Seed production and harvesting
It seeds well and has been harvested by hand. Bogdan and Pratt
(1967) recorded that the spikelets are not easily detached from the panicles
due to the matting of the long, fine awns and so it is more convenient
to cut the panicles and thresh the seed later by rubbing the panicles between
two pieces of rubber. They suggest that one of the rubber surfaces should
be a section of automobile tyre, the groove being adaptable to hold the
seed during abrasion.
Economics
It has been used successfully in reseeding eroded rangeland
in Kitui and Baringo districts in Kenya (Jordan, 1957; Pratt, 1963; 1964).
Could be used as a garden ornamental.
Further reading
Bogdan & Pratt, 1967.
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