Perennial, erect and rigid or creeping and rooting at nodes, stoloniferous
Leaf blade
linear, expanded or rolled, rigid; ligule an unfringed membrane
Inflorescence
a single true spike; spikelets solitary, sessile to subsessile, appressed to rachis, rachis disarticulating and spikelets falling with internode below
Spikelet
(15)28-40 mm long, laterally compressed, falling with glumes; glumes ± equal, shorter than spikelet, similar, many-nerved, awnless
Florets
5-11, bisexual, uppermost floret reduced; lemma similar in texture to glumes, glabrous, 5-nerved, usually 3-toothed, awned, awn minute, straight; palea present, keels winged
Lodicules
2, membranous, ciliate
Stamens
3
Ovary
hairy
x = 7 (polyploidy)
Nomenclature:
Thinopyrum
Á.Löve
Löve: 351 (1980)
Chippindall: 69 (1955) under
Agropyron
Gaertn.
Löve: 475 (1984)
Clayton & Renvoize: 150 (1986) included in
Elymus
L.
Gibbs Russell et al.: 336 (1990)
Watson & Dallwitz: 942 (1994)
Distribution & Notes:
Global
: Species ± 5, coasts of Europe
Southern Africa
: Species 1:
Thinopyrum distichum
(Thunb.) A.Löve, Western and Eastern Cape
References:
CHIPPINDALL, L.K.A. 1955. A guide to the identification of grasses in South Africa. In D. Meredith,
The grasses and pastures of South Africa
. Central News Agency, Cape Town
CLAYTON, W.D. & RENVOIZE S.A. 1986. Genera graminum. Grasses of the world.
Kew Bulletin
. Additional series 13
GIBBS RUSSELL, G.E., WATSON, L., KOEKEMOER, M., SMOOK, L., BARKER, N.P., ANDERSON, H.M. & DALLWITZ. M.J. 1990. Grasses of southern Africa.
Memoirs of the Botanical Survey of South Africa
No. 58
LÖVE, Á. 1980. Chromosome number reports LCVII.
Taxon
29
LÖVE, Á. 1984. Conspectus of the
Triticeae
.
Feddes Repertorium
95
WATSON, L. & DALLWITZ, M.J. 1994.
The grass genera of the world
, revised edn. CAB International, Oxon
Copyright of the content hosted by this website remains with the
South African National Biodiversity Institute
(SANBI), unless stated otherwise.
Material from this site may be used in other media, provided that SANBI is acknowledged by the name
South African National Biodiversity Institute
(SANBI) or refer to the '
How to cite this resource
' paragraph on the Home page.
Liability disclaimer: Visitors use this site at their own risk and SANBI is not liable for any of the consequences resulting therefrom.
Welcome to Biodiversity Advisor 2.0!
Biodiversity Advisor, developed by the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) and its Data Partners, is a system that will provide integrated biodiversity information to a wide range of users who will have access to geospatial data, plant and animal species distribution data, ecosystem-level data, literature, images and metadata.
The integrated information comes from our much-loved Botanical Database of Southern Africa (BODATSA) also known as Plants of Southern Africa (POSA), Zoological Database of Southern Africa (ZODATSA), Biodiversity Geographic Information System (BGIS), SANBI's institutional repository (Opus) and others.
The system is still under development, so you may find a few bugs/issues. If you do, please report it via the error reporting button available in various sections of the website or provide us with any useful feedback you may have via the ‘Give us feedback’ option available in the sidebar menu. You can create a free account for yourself by clicking on the user profile icon which will take you through to the login page. Here you can choose the ‘Create an account’ option or simply fill in your details if you have an account already. Having an account on Biodiversity Advisor will provide users with free access to biodiversity resources.
In future, Team SANBI will be able to log in using their day-to-day login details, BGIS users will be able to use their existing accounts and details, and general users will be able to log in using their LinkedIn profile, but for now you will need to create an account.
