terrestrial
Cenchrus biflorus Roxb.
synonym | Cenchrus annularis Andersson |
synonym | Cenchrus barbatus Schumach. |
synonym | Cenchrus catharticus Delile |
synonym | Cenchrus lapeta Ham. ex Stapf [Invalid] |
synonym | Cenchrus lapeta Ham. ex Stapf, pro syn. |
synonym | Cenchrus leptacanthus A.Camus |
synonym | Cenchrus niloticus Fig. & De Not. |
synonym | Cenchrus perinvolucratus Stapf & C.E.Hubb. |
synonym | Cenchrus rajasthanensis Kanodia & P.C.Nanda |
synonym | Cenchrus triflorus Aitch. [Spelling variant] |
synonym | Cenchrus triflorus Aitch., orth. var. |
synonym | Elymus caput-medusae Forssk. [Illegitimate] |
synonym | Elymus caput-medusae Forssk., nom. illeg. |
Malgache |
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Attributions | Wiktrop |
Contributors | |
Status | UNDER_CREATION |
Licenses | CC_BY |
References |
CCHBI
Growth form
Grass
Biological cycle
Annual
Habitat
Terrestrial
Attributions | |
Contributors | |
Status | UNDER_CREATION |
Licenses | CC_BY |
References |
Cenchrus biflorus is a plant with long, tapered leaves. The ligule is membrano-ciliated. The lamina is scabrous on the upper side, dotted with a few long hairs towards the base. The inflorescence is a fake spike with glomeruli of 1 to 3 spikelets enclosed in an involucre of barbed hard and prickly bristles.
First leaves
The first leaves are alternate with folded prefoliation. Blade linear, 6 to 10 cm long and 3 to 8 mm wide. It is folded in narrow V. The ligule is membrano-ciliated. The sheath is hairless. The margin of the leaf blade bears some long stiff hairs in the lower part. The upper side is scabrous.
General habit
The growth habit is in small tuft, first spread then erect, allowing rooting at the nodes, at the base of the stems. The twigs branch at the nodes of the base. The plant can reach 10-90 cm in height.
Underground system
The roots are fibrous.
Culm
Culm is cylindrical, slightly compressed. It is smooth and hairless. The nodes are glabrous and dark in color.
Leaf
The leaves are alternate. The sheath is hairless, somewhat keeled but highly compressed. Ligule is membranous on 0.5 mm and ciliated on 1 mm height. The lamina is linear gradually attenuated in a sharp point to the top. The lamina is a narrow V at the base, then spread towards the top. It is 5 to 8 mm wide and 10 to 22 cm long. The margin is finely scabrous. The upper surface is finely scabrous along the veins and have at its base scattered hairs of 2mm long. Two small tufts of long hairs of 3 mm frame the membrano-ciliated ligule. The bottom face is smooth. Midrib forms a small rounded keel
Inflorescence
The inflorescence is a fake terminal spike, 2-15 cm long and 1 to 1.5 cm wide with thorny involucres more or less close to each other. The rachis of the inflorescence is angular.
Flower
The spikelets are solitary or grouped by 2 or 3, protected by an involucre of spiny bristles welded at the base in a plateau of 2 to 3 mm wide. These bristles are stocked, in their upper part, with small reflected and invasive hooks, while the lower part is abundantly ciliated. The inner bristles are 4 to 10mm long and arranged around the spikelets. The outer bristles are shorter and directed in all directions. The spikelets have two flowers. They are 4 to 6 mm long. The lower flower is usually sterile. The upper flower is bisexual. The glumes and lemma of the lower flower are membranous, translucent and are traveled by 3 green veins. The lower keel measures 1/3 the length of the spikelet. The upper hull is almost as long as the spikelet. The lemma of the upper flower is lanceolate, 4 to 5 mm long, with edges partially overlapping the palea. Both are papyraceous.
Fruit
The grain is elliptical, measuring 2 mm long. At maturity, the entire involucre fall, constituting the release member
Attributions | Wiktrop |
Contributors | |
Status | UNDER_CREATION |
Licenses | CC_BY |
References |
Life cycle
Cenchrus biflorus is an annual species. It multiplies only by seed. The releasing organ is the involucre which is transported over long distances by animals in the hair of which it clings.
Attributions | Wiktrop |
Contributors | |
Status | UNDER_CREATION |
Licenses | CC_BY |
References |
Growth form
Leaf arrangement
Leaf type
Grass-like leaf type
Type of prefoliation
Latex
Stem section
Root type
Ligule type
Hollow or solid stem
Stipule type
Leaf attachment type
Fruit type
Lamina base
Lamina margin
Lamina apex
Upperface pilosity
Upperface hair type
Lowerface pilosity
Simple leaf type
Lamina section
Lamina Veination
Flower color
Inflorescence type
Stem pilosity
Life form
Cenchrus echinatus can easily be confused with C. biflorus, or C. ciliaris. The first two are annual species with rigid and prickly involucral setae, the distinction between these two species is mainly made from the involucre of setae forming a cup at the base of the spikelets and the number of spikelets per cup, while Cenchrus ciliaris is a vivacious species with involucral setae that are not rigid and prickly, just a little scaberulous.
For Cenchrus echinatus, the involucre is globose and sub-sessile formed of rigid setae that are fused for half their length or more, forming a deep cup. The involucre is 5 to 10 mm long and 4 to 10 mm in diameter. Each involucre contains 2 to 6 spikelets.
For Cenchurs biflorus, the involucre is formed by rigid setae fused only at the base in a plate of 2 or 3 mm wide, the spikelets are solitary or grouped by 2 or 3.
Attributions | Wiktrop |
Contributors | |
Status | UNDER_CREATION |
Licenses | CC_BY |
References |
Northern Cameroon: C. biflorus is a sun-loving species that grows in the Sudano-Sahelian regions where the annual rainfall is between 500 and 1200 mm. It is a ruderal species, common in roadside and in vacant lots. It can also form important populations in fallow. It grows on dry, sandy, highly filtered soils, including ferruginous soils on dunes or on ferruginous soils degraded on sandstone. Its development can become particularly important in the presence of water table close to the soil surface.
Madagascar: ruderal species and recently introduced weed of rainfed crop in the Grande Ile. It is widespread in the West and the Southwest where it is among the dominant species (on ferruginous soil plains and trays called "red sands").
Mauritius: absent.
Reunion: absent
Attributions | Wiktrop |
Contributors | |
Status | UNDER_CREATION |
Licenses | CC_BY |
References |
Habitat
Geographical distibution
Attributions | Wiktrop |
Contributors | |
Status | UNDER_CREATION |
Licenses | CC_BY |
References |
Local harmfulness
Northern Cameroon: C. biflorus is a minor weed. It appears in traditional cultures receiving neither fertilizer nor herbicide and why tillage is reduced.
Madagascar: Species particularly troublesome and harmful (because of its invasive thorns at maturity) for the peanut crop, cassava, cowpea and Bambara groundnut. It often forms a dense stand of variable dimension.
Mauritius: absent.
Reunion: absent
Seychelles: absent.
Attributions | Wiktrop |
Contributors | |
Status | UNDER_CREATION |
Licenses | CC_BY |
References |
Attributions | |
Contributors | |
Status | UNDER_CREATION |
Licenses | CC_BY |
References |
- Merlier H. & Montégut J., 1982. Adventices tropicales. ORSTOM-GERDAT-ENSH éd., Montpellier, France, 490 p.
- Stanfield D.P., 1970. The flora of Nigeria, Grasses. Stanfield and Lowe ed., Ibadan University Press, Ibadan, Nigeria, 118 p.
- Vanden Berghen C., 1983. Matériaux pour une flore de la végétation herbacée de la Casamance occidentale, Sénégal, Fascicule 2, Gramineae. Jardin Botanique National de Belgique, 66 p.
- Hutchinson J., Dalziel J. M., Keay R. W. J. & Hepper F. N., 1972. Flora of West Tropical Africa. Vol. III part. 2. 2ème éd. The Whitefriars Press ed., London & Tonbridge, 574 p.
- Zon van der A.P.M., 1992. Graminées du Cameroun, Vol. II, Flore. Wageningen Agric. Univ. Papers 92 - 1, Wageningen, 557 p.
- le Bourgeois Th., 1993. Les mauvaises herbes dans la rotation cotonnière au Nord-Cameroun (Afrique) - Amplitude d'habitat et degré d'infestation - Cycle de développement. Thèse USTL Montpellier II, Montpellier, France, 241 p.
- Le Bourgeois, T., A. Carrara, M. Dodet, W. Dogley, A. Gaungoo, P. Grard, Y. Ibrahim, E. Jeuffrault, G. Lebreton, P. Poilecot, J. Prosperi, J. A. Randriamampianina, A. P. Andrianaivo and F. Théveny (2008). Advent-OI : Principales adventices des îles du sud-ouest de l'Océan Indien. Cirad. Montpellier, France, Cirad.
- Berhaut J., 1967. Flore du Sénégal. 2ème éd. Clairafrique éd., Dakar, Sénégal, 485 p.
- Poilecot, P. 1995. Les Poaceae de Côte-d'Ivoire. Genève, Suisse, Conservatoire et jardin botaniques de Genève.
- Braun M., Burgstaller H., Hamdoun A. M. & Walter H., 1991. Common weeds of Central Sudan. GTZ, Verlag Josef Margraf ed. Scientific Book, Weikersheim, Germany, 329 p.
- Donfack P., 1993. Etude de la dynamique de la végétation après abandon de la culture au Nord-Cameroun. Thèse Dc. 3ème cycle , Faculté des sciences, Univ. de Yaoundé, Cameroun, 192 p.
- Akobundu I.O. & Agyakwa C.W., 1989. Guide des adventices d'Afrique de l'Ouest. Institut international d'agriculture tropicale. Ibadan, Nigeria, 521 p.
- Merlier H. & Montégut J., 1982. Adventices tropicales. ORSTOM-GERDAT-ENSH éd., Montpellier, France, 490 p.
- Stanfield D.P., 1970. The flora of Nigeria, Grasses. Stanfield and Lowe ed., Ibadan University Press, Ibadan, Nigeria, 118 p.
- Vanden Berghen C., 1983. Matériaux pour une flore de la végétation herbacée de la Casamance occidentale, Sénégal, Fascicule 2, Gramineae. Jardin Botanique National de Belgique, 66 p.
- Hutchinson J., Dalziel J. M., Keay R. W. J. & Hepper F. N., 1972. Flora of West Tropical Africa. Vol. III part. 2. 2ème éd. The Whitefriars Press ed., London & Tonbridge, 574 p.
- Zon van der A.P.M., 1992. Graminées du Cameroun, Vol. II, Flore. Wageningen Agric. Univ. Papers 92 - 1, Wageningen, 557 p.
- le Bourgeois Th., 1993. Les mauvaises herbes dans la rotation cotonnière au Nord-Cameroun (Afrique) - Amplitude d'habitat et degré d'infestation - Cycle de développement. Thèse USTL Montpellier II, Montpellier, France, 241 p.
- Le Bourgeois, T., A. Carrara, M. Dodet, W. Dogley, A. Gaungoo, P. Grard, Y. Ibrahim, E. Jeuffrault, G. Lebreton, P. Poilecot, J. Prosperi, J. A. Randriamampianina, A. P. Andrianaivo and F. Théveny (2008). Advent-OI : Principales adventices des îles du sud-ouest de l'Océan Indien. Cirad. Montpellier, France, Cirad.
- Berhaut J., 1967. Flore du Sénégal. 2ème éd. Clairafrique éd., Dakar, Sénégal, 485 p.
- Poilecot, P. 1995. Les Poaceae de Côte-d'Ivoire. Genève, Suisse, Conservatoire et jardin botaniques de Genève.
- Braun M., Burgstaller H., Hamdoun A. M. & Walter H., 1991. Common weeds of Central Sudan. GTZ, Verlag Josef Margraf ed. Scientific Book, Weikersheim, Germany, 329 p.
- Donfack P., 1993. Etude de la dynamique de la végétation après abandon de la culture au Nord-Cameroun. Thèse Dc. 3ème cycle , Faculté des sciences, Univ. de Yaoundé, Cameroun, 192 p.
- Akobundu I.O. & Agyakwa C.W., 1989. Guide des adventices d'Afrique de l'Ouest. Institut international d'agriculture tropicale. Ibadan, Nigeria, 521 p.
Weeds of tropical rainfed cropping systems: are there patterns at a global level of perception?
Etude de la phénologie et des traits de réponse aux pratiques culturales des espèces végétales d'intérêt pour la lutte biologique en vergers d'agrumes à la Réunion
Herbarium pictures ReCOLNAT: https://explore.recolnat.org/search/botanique/simplequery=Cenchrus%2520biflorus
Attributions | |
Contributors | |
Status | UNDER_CREATION |
Licenses | CC_BY |
References |
Root | Root |
Kingdom | Plantae |
Phylum | Tracheophyta |
Class | Liliopsida |
Order | Poales |
Family | Poaceae |
Genus | Cenchrus |
Species | Cenchrus biflorus Roxb. |