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Graminae
Synonyms
H. pseudointerrupta C. Muell.
Common names
Canutillo, del or bamboo grass (India), carrizo chico, cañuela
blanca (Bolivia), bamboegras (Suriname).
Description
Tall, stoloniferous perennial, culms to 15 m; panicle narrow,
15 cm long. Semi-aquatic, rooting at the lower nodes with rather stout
culms.
Distribution
South America.
Palatability
It is eaten readily by cattle and buffaloes.
Chemical analysis and
digestibility
Analyses from Suriname and India are shown in Table 15.39.
H. amplexicaulis has a very high chlorine content (1.53 percent of the
dry matter) and the sulphur content (0.43 percent of the dry matter) is
higher than that of Leersia hexandra in Suriname. It also has a very high
potassium content (3.39 percent of the dry matter) but low calcium values
(0.02 percent of the dry matter) (Dirven, 1963a).
Natural habitat
In shallow water at the margins of swamps and low rivers at
low altitudes.
Economics
H. amplexicaulis is one of three dominant grasses in the Venezuelan
llanos and, with Leersia hexandra and Panicum laxum, makes up 68 percent
of the llanos flooded to a maximum depth of 50 cm during June or July to
November. It is also a most important aquatic grass in Suriname and provides
grazing in abandoned rice paddies (Dirven, 1963a).
Animal production
In the Llanos Inundables of Venezuela and Colombia, H. amplexicaulis
is the most commonly found grass in the diet of the capybara (Hydrochoerus
capybara) comprising 34.96, 22.78 and 18.59 percent of the total grass
eaten during the rainy season, at the end of the rains, and at the end
of the dry season (Escobar & Gonzalez, 1976).
Further reading
Dirven, 1963a.
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