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Graminae
Synonyms
Hyparrhenia dissoluta (Steud.) Hutch.
Common names
Yellow thatching grass (Zimbabwe, South Africa), yellow hard
grass (Kenya).
Description
Tufted perennial up to 300 cm high. Panicle narrow and stiff;
spikelets large, awns two per raceme pair, 50-88 mm long (Napper, 1965).
Unlike the Hyparrhenia spp., the whole plant usually has a yellow and green
appearance, apart from the spathes and dead leaves, which are often purple
or red-brown. The culms are yellow, the sheaths that partly clasp them
are green, and the stem is thus alternately yellow and green. The spikelets
are mostly light green, the long, conspicuous arms yellow (Chippendall,
1955).
Distribution
Throughout tropical Africa. Common in Combretum woodland.
Season of growth
Summer.
Altitude range
Sea-level to 3 000 m.
Rainfall requirements
It requires a rainfall in excess of 625 mm. Soil requirements.
It prefers sandy soils.
Response to fire
Late dry season burning of Hyparrhenia grassland in Zambia
over three years reduced competition from shrubby Acacia spp., but halved
the population of H. filipendula. However, Hyperthelia dissoluta withstood
the fires and increased slightly in population (Brockington, 1961).
Dry-matter and green-matter
yields
At Gandajika, Zaire, it produced 25 895 kg/ha and 26 880 kg/ha
of green matter in the years 1958 and 1959, respectively (Risopoulos, 1966).
Palatability
Palatable when young, but too woody when mature. It is completely
grazed in the early stage, but at later stages the stems are usually left
ungrazed and only the leaves are eaten (Göhl, 1975).
Natural habitat
Woodland and savannah on sandy soils.
Genetics and reproduction
2n=40 (Fedorov, 1974).
Economics
Grazed early, but old material is used for thatching.
Animal production
No quantitative figures have been cited. It is an important
grazing grass on the veld where it grows.
Further reading
Risopoulos, 1966.
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