Ehrharta calycina
Poaceae subfam. ehrhartoideae
perennial veldt grass, purple veldtgrass
30-75(180) cm, erect, glabrous.
annual, sometimes woody, hollow or solid.
finely striate, smooth, sometimes densely pubescent, with short hairs between the veins, usually purplish;
auricles ciliate;
ligules about 1 mm, lacerate, glabrous;
blades 2-9 cm long, 2-7 mm wide, flat or involute, surfaces glabrous, sometimes scabridulous, margins hairy, wavy.
distichous;
sheaths open;
auricles sometimes present;
abaxial ligules absent;
adaxial ligules membranous, scarious, or of hairs;
pseudopetioles sometimes present;
blades rarely cordate or sagittate at the base, venation parallel;
mesophyll not radiate;
adaxial palisade layer usually absent;
fusoid cells sometimes present;
arm cells absent or present;
Kranz anatomy not developed;
midribs simple or complex;
adaxial bulliform cells present;
stomates with dome-shaped or triangular subsidiary cells;
bicellular microhairs present, terminal cells tapered;
papillae sometimes present.
7-22 cm, sometimes partially enclosed in the upper leaf sheaths, sometimes nodding;
pedicels curved or bent, sometimes straight.
panicles, racemes, or spikes, rarely with bracts other than those of the spikelets;
disarticulation usually above the glumes, sometimes beneath the spikelets or at the base of the primary branches.
4-9 mm, U-shaped, purplish.
bisexual or unisexual, with 1 pistillate or bisexual floret, sometimes with 1-2 sterile florets below the functional floret.
subequal, 3-8 mm long, 3/4 - 9/10 the length of the spikelets, 7-veined;
sterile lemmas hairy, smooth, lower sterile lemmas from 2/3 the length of to equaling the upper sterile lemmas, bases with earlike appendages, apices of both lemmas mucronate or shortly awned;
bisexual lemmas slightly shorter than the upper sterile lemmas, 5-7-veined, glabrous or sparsely pubescent;
paleas shorter than the lemmas, 2-veined;
anthers 6, 2.5-3.5 mm.
absent or 2;
lemmas without uncinate hairs, sometimes terminally awned, awns single;
paleas well-developed, lacking in sterile florets;
lodicules 2, usually membranous, rarely fleshy, heavily vascularized;
anthers (1)3-6(16);
ovaries glabrous, without an apical appendage;
styles 2, free to the base to fused throughout, 2-branched.
about 3 mm.
caryopses or achenes;
hila long-linear;
endosperm without lipid, usually containing compound starch grains, rarely with simple starch grains;
embryos to 1/3 the length of the caryopses;
epiblasts usually present;
scutellar cleft usually present;
mesocotyl internode absent or very short;
embryonic leaf margins usually overlapping.
=12 (10,15,17).
= 24-28, 30.
Ehrharta calycina
Poaceae subfam. ehrhartoideae
Ehrharta calycina is native to southern Africa. It was introduced to Davis, California, as a drought-resistant grass for rangelands, but it is unable to withstand heavy grazing. It is now common on the coastal sand dunes at San Luis Obispo and San Diego, California, and has been reported from Nevada and Texas. Jacobs and Hastings (1993) describe it as "moderately useful on light soils of low fertility and rainfall between 330 and 760 mm" in New South Wales. Four varieties have been described; they are not treated here.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
The Ehrhartoideae encompasses three tribes, one of which, the Oryzeae, is native to the Flora region; the Ehrharteae is represented by introduced species. The third tribe, Phyllorachideae C.E. Hubb., is native to Africa and Madagascar. It was included in the subfamily on the basis of its morphological similarity to the other two tribes. There are approximately 120 species in the Ehrhartoideae. They grow in forests, open hillsides, and aquatic habitats.
Molecular data provide strong support for the close relationship of the Oryzeae and Ehrharteae (Grass Phylogeny Working Group 2001). Morphologically, they are characterized by spikelets that have a distal unisexual or bisexual floret with up to two proximal sterile florets, and the frequent presence of six stamens in the staminate or bisexual florets.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Spikelets with 2 sterile florets below the functional floret, both well-developed, at least the upper sterile floret as long as or longer than the functional floret; glumes from 1/2 as long as the spikelets to exceeding the florets; culms not aerenchymatous; plants of dry to damp habitats | Ehrharteae |
1. Spikelets with 0-2 sterile florets below the functional floret, when present, sterile florets 1/8 - 9/10 as long as the functional floret; glumes absent or highly reduced; culms aerenchymatous; plants of wet habitats | Oryzeae |
CA
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