Gramineae

Small oats grass

Pooideae; Poodae, Aveneae. There are about 90 species of Helictotrichon from various parts of the world of which 13 species are indigenous to southern Africa.

Only occurs in southern Africa (South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland). In South Africa it is found in Fynbos and Grassland and in some mesic habitats in Savanna.

A tufted perennial grass with unbranched culms that grows to a height of 300-1,000 mm tall. The leaves are concentrated mainly at the base. The leaf blades are flat and are 60-150 mm long and 1.5-6.0 mm wide. The ligule is an unfringed membrane. The inflorescence is a densely contracted panicle, often interrupted, and is straw-coloured at maturity and green with purple shades when young. The spikelets are 10-12 mm long, compressed laterally, disarticulating above the glumes. Glumes unequal, awnless, broadly lanceolate and two-thirds the spikelet length. The rachilla internodes are 2 mm long with 2 mm long hairs. The lemma may be glabrous, smooth or papillate, very often variegated with purple, and is awned.
A very variable species in terms of vegetative characters, but the most widespread of the Helictotrichon species in southern Africa.

A very palatable grass that remains green until late in the winter. However, the leaf production is low and it seldom occurs in dense stands.

Chromosome base number, x = 7.

Leaf blade anatomy

C₃ photosynthetic pathway.

None reported and considered to be non-toxic.

Occurs in the temperate cooler, wetter, high altitude parts of southern Africa. Rainfall may be at any time of the year, but the major area of distribution coincides with the summer rainfall region, which may be from 700-2,000 mm per annum. Usually grows on mountain slopes or, where the rainfall is lower, in wet places near to wetlands. May form stands on the sides of roads where additional rainwater accumulates.

Grows in most types of soil.

H. turgidulum is not propagated.

Broadly summer-growing species that flowers from October to April.

None known.

Moderate to slow-growing.

Acocks, J.P.H. 1988. Veld types of South Africa (3rd edn.). Mem. Bot. Surv. S. Afr. No 28. Government printer, Pretoria.

Gibbs-Russell, G.E., Watson, L., Koekemoer, M., Smook, L. Barker, N.P., Anderson, H.M., Dallwitz, M.J. 1989. Grasses of southern Africa. Memoirs of the Botanical Survey of South Africa, No. 58, National Botanical Institute, Pretoria.

Gibbs-Russell, G.E., 1986. Significance of different centres of diversity in subfamilies of Poaceae in southern Africa. In: E.M.Van Zinderen Bakker, J.A.Coetzee & L.Scott (eds.) Palaeoecology of Africa and the surrounding islands. Vol. 17. pp. 183-191. A.A.Balkema, Rotterdam.

Van Wyk, E. & Van Oudtshoorn, F. 1999. Guide to grasses of southern Africa. Briza Publications, Arcadia, South Africa.