Graminae 

Common names:

Description

Mat-forming, stoloniferous perennial with erect slender culms from swollen base, 7-45 cm high. Leaf-blades flat or folded, 1-11 cm long, 1.5-3 mm wide, hispid with tubercle-based hairs. Inflorescence of 3-5 spikes each 0.8-2 cm long in a compact head. Spikelets 3-9-flowered, 4-8 mm in length, the awn on the upper glume half as long as the glume; lemmas mucronate; anthers 1.1-2 mm long; grain 0.7-1 mm long, transversely rugose.

Habitat

Damp hollows in dry grassland and open Acacia-Commiphora bushland usually on sandy soils.

Altitude range

60-830 m.

Distribution

Kenya; also from Somalia, Ethiopia and Sudan.

Use

Of no use for grazing.

Edited by: F. Guiso Gallisai
Information taken from: Ibrahim, K. M., Kabuye, C. H. S. 1988. An illustrated manual of Kenya grasses. Rome, FAO. 765 pp.