Poa leptoclada Hochst. ex A.Rich., Tent. Fl. Abyss. 2: 422. 1851 [1850].

Soreng, Robert J., Sylvester, Steven P., Sylvester, Mitsy D. P. V. & Clark, Vincent Ralph, 2020, New records and key to Poa (Pooideae, Poaceae) from the Flora of Southern Africa region and notes on taxa including a diclinous breeding system in Poa binata, PhytoKeys 165, pp. 27-50 : 27

Poa leptoclada Hochst. ex A.Rich., Tent. Fl. Abyss. 2: 422. 1851 [1850].

Type.

Ethiopia. [Tigray:] Crescit in montibus prope Cojeta, provinciae Schire, [et in regno Choa (ant. Petit)], 16 Oct 1840, G.H.W. Schimper 1826 (first-step lectotype, designated by Clayton 1970: 47: TUB; second-step lectotype, designated here: TUB (TUB009107 [image!]); isolectotypes: BM (BM000922778 [image!], BM000922779 fragm. [image!]), BR (BR0000008255792 [image!]), G (G00022704 [image!]), K (K000345208 [image!]), P (P02610380 [image!]), S (S-G-6769 [image!]), TUB (TUB009108 [image!], TUB009109[image!]); syntypes: ETHIOPIA. Choa, A. Petit s.n.(P (P02619542 [image!])); ERITREA. 12 Sep 1902, A. Pappi 1543 (MO (MO1660901 [image!]), PRE (PRE0676737-0 [image!]))).

8 heterotypic synonyms.

- sect. unplaced

Distribution.

for the FSA region, found in Lesotho and the Kwazulu Natal Province of South Africa. Native, endemic to and widespread mainly in the mountains of tropical eastern Africa and adjacent Arabian Peninsula.

Ecology.

wet places in high Maloti-Drakensberg.

Flowering.

around July.

Economics.

rare, insignificant.

Vouchers.

no new records.

Notes.

Poa leptoclada exhibits a wide variation in floret pubescence. Callus hairs may be present or absent and lemma hairs, when present, occur on the keel only, the keel and marginal veins and sometimes between them. Infrequently, florets are entirely glabrous and callus and lemma hairs occur in different combinations of presence and absence. We did not have time to evaluate the case in Drakensberg plants. Presumably it is self-compatible and mostly self-fertilising. Clayton (1970: 47) incompletely lectotypified P. leptoclada on a Schimper 1826 TUB collection, although without mentioning which specimen or leaving annotations on any of the three duplicates at TUB. We second-step lectotypify to the TUB009107 collection as this is presumably the sheet Clayton (1970) considered as “holotype”, as it is the only sheet which displayed Hochstetter’s handwritten diagnosis and was photographed for K (K negative No. 10325, 23 Sep 1968). 2 n = 28, 42. - Hh genotype (Gillespie and Soreng, unpublished).