Bureaucrat, administrator, widgeteditor
146,870
edits
Changes
no edit summary
| Food security= 1
}}
<big>''[[Eragrostis plana]]'' Nees</big>
__NOTOC__
{{DISPLAYTITLE:''Eragrostis plana'' (PROTA)}}
:Protologue: Fl. Afr. austr. ill.: 390 (1841).
:Chromosome number: ''n'' = 10
== Vernacular names ==
*Tough lovegrass, South-African lovegrass (En). *Eragrostis d’Afrique du Sud (Fr). *Capim chorão, capim teff (Po).
== Origin and geographic distribution ==
The grain of ''Eragrostis plana'' is eaten as a famine food. ''Eragrostis plana'' is considered a poor grazing grass, but is utilized late in the rainy season in more arid regions. In Lesotho it is woven into hats, baskets, necklaces and bangles, and made into ropes and plaited items used in funerals. In South Africa the root is used to treat menorrhagia and impotence.
== Botany Description ==
*Densely tufted perennial grass up to 1 m tall, without rhizomes or stolons; stem (culm) erect, unbranched. *Leaves alternate, simple; leaf sheath glabrous, strongly compressed, keeled; ligule a line of hairs; blade linear, 10–80 cm × 1.5–5 mm, flat or folded, glabrous, sometimes with punctate glands along the midvein. *Inflorescence a narrowly oblong to narrowly ovoid panicle 10–35 cm long, branches ascending or spreading; primary branches not in whorls, but sometimes loosely clustered, terminating in a fertile spikelet. *Spikelet on a pedicel 1.5–2 mm long, linear to narrowly oblong, 6–13.5 mm × 0.5–2 mm, 9–13-flowered, with bisexual florets; glumes unequal, the lower 0.5–1 mm long, the upper 1–1.5 mm long, keeled; lemma 2–2.5 mm long, keeled, membranous with prominent lateral veins, olive green; palea with slender keel, persistent; stamens 3, anthers (1–)1.5–2 mm long; ovary superior, with 2 stigmas. *Fruit an oblong to ellipsoid caryopsis (grain) c. 1 mm long. == Other botanical information ==
''Eragrostis'' is a large and taxonomically complex genus comprising more than 350 species mainly in tropical and subtropical regions.
''Eragrostis plana'' flowers from September to May. It has the C<sub>4</sub>-cycle photosynthetic pathway.
== Ecology ==
''Eragrostis plana'' occurs from 400–2000 m altitude in grassland on sandy soils and shallow laterite pans, in dry areas on wet soils around vleis and rivers. Its common occurrence in pastures is considered an indicator of overgrazing or too much burning.
== Management ==
== Author(s) ==
* M. Brink , PROTA Network Office Europe, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 341, 6700 AH Wageningen, Netherlands
== Correct citation of this article ==
Brink, M., 2006. '''Eragrostis plana''' Nees. [Internet] Record from PROTA4U. In: Brink, M. & Belay, G. (Editors). PROTA (Plant Resources of Tropical Africa / Ressources végétales de l’Afrique tropicale), Wageningen, Netherlands. <http://www.prota4u.org/search.asp>. Accessed {{CURRENTDAY}} {{CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{CURRENTYEAR}}.
[[fr:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:PROTA prov]][[Category:Cereals and pulses (PROTA)]]