The plant genus Hyparrhenia , for some species the common German name Kahngras is used, belongs to the sweet grass family (Poaceae). The slightly more than 50 species of tall grass thrive mainly in open savannas .
The hyparrhenia species are mostly perennial (40 species), less often annual (16 species) herbaceous plants . These grasses usually do not form rhizomes (42 species), some species short (12 species) or only 2 species long . There are often buttress roots for the mostly long, upright stalks.
Generative characteristics
The inflorescence usually consists of racemose partial inflorescences with usually only a few spikelets , which are paired together and in turn are part of a multi-branched false panicle with bracts contained therein. One of the two racemose partial inflorescences is significantly shorter than the other. Within each of the partial inflorescences there is a sitting spikelet with a long awn opposite to a stalked spikelet, but the spikelets at the base are differently shaped and at the tip are two stalked spikelets on the sides of a sitting spikelet.
Within the spikelets there is only a single flower with three stamens . The lemma of this flower is awned on the sessile spikelets, whereby the awn is very strong and kneeling.
Systematics and distribution
The genus Hyparrhenia was published in 1886 by Eugène Pierre Nicolas Fournier in his work Mexicanas plantas nuper a collectoribus expeditionis scientificae allatas .. , Volume 2: 51, 67 and Nils Johan Andersson was given as the author . A synonym for Hyparrhenia Andersson ex E. Fourn. is Dybowskia Stapf .
The genus Hyparrhenia belongs to the tribe Andropogoneae in the subfamily Panicoideae within the sweet grass family (Poaceae).
All types of hyparrhenia occur in Africa, with the main distribution in the Sudano-Zambian savannas . However, the distribution of Hyparrhenia hirta extends to southern Europe and over the Middle East to India. Some species reach as far as Australia or were introduced into tropical America , such as Hyparrhenia rufa . Hyparrhenia rufa was also introduced to Hawaii as pasture grass and behaves as an invasive species there, especially after fires . The same is true of Hyparrhenia hirta in Australia.
Hyparrhenia anthistirioides (Hochst. Ex A.Rich.) Andersson ex Stapf (Syn .: Hyparrhenia quinqueplex (Steud.) Andersson , Hyparrhenia pseudocymbaria (Steud.) Stapf ): It iswidespreadfrom northeastern tropical Africa and Tanzania to tropical southern Africa.
Hyparrhenia bracteata (Humb. & Bonpl. Ex Willd.) Stapf : It occurs in tropical Africa, from Mexico to tropical South America, in Indochina and New Guinea.
Hyparrhenia figariana (Chiov.) Clayton : It occurs from Nigeria to South Sudan and Tanzania.
Hyparrhenia filipendula (Hochst.) Stapf : It occurs in two varieties in tropical and southern Africa and from tropical and subtropical Asia to eastern Australia and also on Madagascar.
Hyparrhenia formosa Stapf : It occurs from Ethiopia to Malawi and on the southwestern Arabian Peninsula.
Hyparrhenia gazensis (Rendle) Stapf : It occurs from South Sudan to southern Africa.
Hyparrhenia glabriuscula (Hochst. Ex A.Rich.) Andersson ex Stapf : It is distributed from tropical West Africa to Ethiopia and from Tanzania to southern tropical Africa.
Hyparrhenia nyassae (Rendle) Stapf : It occurs in tropical and southern Africa, on Madagascar and in Indochina.
Hyparrhenia papillipes (Hochst. Ex A.Rich.) Andersson ex Stapf : It occurs from Ethiopia to eastern tropical Africa, on the southwestern Arabian Peninsula and on Madagascar.
Hyparrhenia quarrei Robyns : It occurs on the southwestern Arabian Peninsula and from Nigeria to Eritrea and to southern Africa.
Hyparrhenia rudis Stapf : It occurs in tropical and southern Africa and in Madagascar.
Hyparrhenia rufa (Nees) Stapf : It occurs in tropical and southern Africa, on islands in the western Indian Ocean and from south-central China to Indochina.
Hyparrhenia schimperi (Hochst. Ex A.Rich.) Andersson ex Stapf : It occurs from Ethiopia to southern Africa and Madagascar.
Hyparrhenia smithiana (Hook. F.) Stapf : It occurs from tropical West Africa to Chad.
Hyparrhenia umbrosa (Hochst.) Andersson ex Clayton : It occurs from Nigeria to Cameroon, from South Sudan to eastern tropical Africa, in southern Africa and on the Comoros .
Hyparrhenia wombaliensis (Vanderyst ex Robyns) Clayton : It occurs in western and central tropical Africa.
use
Some types of hyparrhenia are used in Africa for mats, fences and also to cover thatched roofs (hence the English name thatching grass ). In addition, the genus Hyparrhenia plays an important role as pasture grass in many tropical and subtropical regions.
Individual evidence
↑ Walter Erhardt, Erich Götz, Nils Bödeker, Siegmund Seybold: The great zander. Encyclopedia of Plant Names. Volume 2. Types and varieties. Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart (Hohenheim) 2008, ISBN 978-3-8001-5406-7 .
↑ Thiombiano A, Schmidt M, Dressler S, Ouédraogo A, Hahn K, Zizka G (2012) Catalog des plantes vasculaires du Burkina Faso. Boissiera 65. Conservatoire et Jardin botaniques, Geneva. 391 pp.
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