Aristida mollissimaPilg. [family GRAMINEAE ] (stored under name); Verified by Not on sheet.,
Related name
Aristida argentea
Aristida mollissima
Flora
Entry for ARISTIDA mollissima Pilg. [family POACEAE]
Herbarium
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (K)
Collection
Flora of Tropical East Africa
Resource Type
Reference Sources
Entry From
Flora of Tropical East Africa, Part (Part 1), page 1, (1970) Author: W. D. Clayton
Names
ARISTIDA mollissimaPilg. [family POACEAE], in E.J. 40: 80 (1908). Type: South West Africa, Kalahari, Senuma-Kooa, Schultze 342 i (B, holo.!)
Information
Caespitose perennial; culms 60–90 cm. high, the internodes pubescent to woolly tomentose. Leaf-blades linear to filiform, up to 30 cm. long and 3 mm. wide, with a flake of wool at the auricles; sheaths woolly to glabrescent. Panicle narrow, very dense and spike-like, up to 20 cm. long. Glumes unequal, the lower 7–10 mm. long, the upper 12–20 mm., both irregularly 2-toothed and drawn out into an awn up to 5 mm. long; lemma narrowly lanceolate, 8–10 mm. long, glabrous, articulated at the apex; callus pungent, 2–2.5 mm. long; column of awns 12–27 mm. long, the limbs subequal and 2.8–5.5 cm. long.
Range
DISTR. K1, 4 South West Africa
Altitude range
300–400 m.
Distribution
KENYA Northern Frontier Province 22 km. SSW. of El Wak, 26 May 1952, Gillett 13353!KENYA Kitui District Sosoma, 20 Dec. 1952, L. C. Edwards 222!
Distribution (external)
Rhodesia
Botswana
South Africa (Cape Province)
Notes
Despite the disjunct distribution, the Kenya specimens are so similar to the main body of the species that they can scarcely be regarded as other than conspecific at this stage.