Trichanthecium perrieri (A.Camus) 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 : 251

10. Trichanthecium perrieri (A.Camus) Zuloaga , comb. nov.

Panicum perrieri Camus (1925: 371) .

Lectotype (designated by Vorontsova 2018: 170):— MADAGASCAR. Fianarantsoa, Massif d’Andringitra, 2200 m, March 1921, Perrier de la Bâthie 13694 ( P [ 00224770 !], isolectotypes K [ 000244712 !], P [ 00224771 !]) .

Perennial, not tufted, shortly rhizomatous; culms decumbent, rooting and branching at the lower nodes, then erect, 15– 65 cm long; internodes cylindrical, hollow, glabrous; nodes compressed, brownish, glabrous. Sheaths striate, glabrous. Ligules membranous, ca. 0.5 mm long. Blades linear, 1.5–8 × 0.2–0.6 cm, flat, narrow at the base, apex acuminate, often reflexed at maturity, densely hispid on both surfaces to glabrous. Inflorescence a terminal, partly or fully exserted, open, narrowly ovate panicle, 2–7 × 2–6 cm; peduncle 8–10 cm long, cylindrical, glabrous, pulvini glabrous; main axis striate, glabrous, first-order branches alternate, appressed or ascendent, naked at the lower portion, axis of the branches scaberulous, spikelet congested on first- and second-order branches, pedicels 2–4 mm long, scaberulous. Spikelets long ovoid, 2–5–2.8(–3) × 0.8–1 mm, greenish to purple; lower glume as long as the spikelet, 3–5-nerved, long acuminate, pubescent to glabrous; upper glume as long as the spikelet, 7-nerved, hispid to glabrous, membranous, lower lemma glumiform, 7-nerved, hispid to glabrous; lower palea reduced, ca. 0.4 mm long to absent; lower flower absent. Upper anthecium ovoid, 2 × 0.8–1 mm, shorter than the upper glume and lower lemma, indurate, pale to brownish, smooth, shiny. Caryopsis not seen.

Distribution and habitat: —Species endemic to high elevations in Madagascar, open savanna, forest understory, rocky habitats, often on limestone and gneiss, at 950–2400 m elevation ( Vorontsova 2018).

Representative material examined: — MADAGASCAR. Massif de L’Andohahela, Vallée supériere de la Sakamalio , January 1934, Humbert 13568 ( G). Antsiranana: Mount Tsaratanana , s.d., Perrier de la Bâthie 16363 ( P) ; Massif de Marivohahona au Sud-Est de Manambato , 18 March 1951, Humbert & Capuron 25654, 25692 ( P) ; Montagne d’Ambre , June 1970, Bosser 20353 ( K, P). Antananarivo: route Ambatolampy-Faratsiho , February 1957, Bosser 10839 ( P) ; P. K. 40, route d’Anjozorobe , February 1954, Bosser 7255 ( P) ; Lac Mantasoa , February 1954, Bosser 19991 ( K, P) ; Analabe , March 1952, Bosser 5152 ( P) ; La Mandraka , February 1953, Bosser 4902 ( P). Fianarantsoa: Ambatofinandrahana, February 1962, Bosser 15869 ( P) .