Trichanthecium eickii (Mez) Zuloaga

Zuloaga, Fernando Omar, Aliscioni, Sandra, Delfini, Carolina & Salariato, Diego Leonel, 2024, Old World species of Trichanthecium (Poaceae: Panicoideae: Paniceae) including a new species from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Phytotaxa 646 (3), pp. 230-264 : 245

6. Trichanthecium eickii (Mez) Zuloaga , comb. nov.

Panicum eickii Mez (1921: 185) .

Type:— TANZANIA. Usambara , E. Eick 113 (holotype B [ 10_0591779 !], isotype US [ 00148463 !] [fragment ex B]) . Fig. 7

Perennial, not tufted, culms decumbent at base, then erect, 5–30 cm long; internodes cylindrical, 1–5 cm long, hollow, glabrous; nodes brownish, glabrous. Sheaths striate, 3–5 cm long, usually longer than the internodes, the margins ciliate, otherwise glabrous. Ligule membranous, 0.7 mm long, hyaline. Blades lanceolate, 1–5(–6.5) × 0.2–0.4 cm, flat, rounded at base, acuminate, glabrous or sparsely pilose. Inflorescence a contracted, terminal and exserted panicle, 1.5–2(–6) × 2–4 cm; peduncle cylindrical, up to 20 cm long, glabrous, pulvini glabrous; main axis wavy, glabrous, first-order branches alternate, axis of the branches flexuous, glabrous, spikelets solitary and appressed on first- and second-order branches, pedicels flexuous, 1–5 mm long, glabrous. Spikelets long ovoid, 2–3 × 0.9–1 mm, greenish, glumes and lower lemma strongly nerved; lower glume 2.6–2.8 mm long, almost as long as the spikelet, 3(–5)-nerved, acuminate, glabrous, membranous; upper glume as long as the spikelet, 7-nerved, glabrous, membranous, acuminate; lower lemma glumiform, 2.6–2.7 mm long, 5–7-nerved, glabrous, membranous, acute; lower palea elliptic, 2.4–2.5 × 0.8 mm, hyaline, glabrous; lower flower staminate. Upper anthecium narrowly ovoid, 2.4–2.5 × 0.8 mm, indurate, smooth, glabrous, shiny. Caryopsis not seen.

Distribution and habitat: — Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe, growing in rocky open soils, at 2300– 2900 m elevation.

Representative specimens examined: — MALAWI. Mt. Mulanje, Chambe Plateau, Wiehe N/344 ( K) . RWANDA. Foret de Nyungwe, sommet du mont Ibigugu , 4 March 1952, Bouxin 1358 ( P) . TANZANIA. Makete District. Kitulo Plateau, 32 km E of the turnoff of Mbeya-Tukuyu road, 2850 m, 27 June 1996, Faden et al. 96/427 ( BR, US) ; Bezirk Morogoro: Uluguru-Gebirge, Westseite , 20 February 1933, Schlieben 3521 ( BR) . ZIMBABWE. Chimanimani Mountains , 29 December 1957, Goodier & Phipps 189 ( K) .

Figures

FIGURE 7. Trichanthecium eickii. A. Habit. B. Ligular region. C. Detail of a branch of the inflorescence. D. Spikelet, lateral view. E. Spikelet, ventral view. F. Upper glume. G. Lower lemma. H. Upper anthecium, dorsal view. I. Upper anthecium, ventral view. (Faden et al. 46/927 US).