Dinebra retroflexa (Vahl) Panz. var. retroflexa

viper grass, cats tail vlei grass


Info

Subfamily: Chloridoideae
Genus etymology: Dinebra = "little tail" [Arabic, originally dzanaib before being Latinized], refering to the tips of the glumes
Species etymology: retroflexa = "backwards bent" [Latin] refering to the inflorescence branches
Photosynthetic type: C4 (warm season)
Nativity: naturalized - accidental
First recorded in Hawaiʻi: 2022

Map

 Distribution of Dinebra retroflexa var. retroflexa in Hawaiʻi.

Inflorescence

Dinebra retroflexa var. retroflexa Inflorescence
Dinebra retroflexa var. retroflexa Inflorescence
Dinebra retroflexa var. retroflexa Inflorescence

Habit

Dinebra retroflexa var. retroflexa Habit
Dinebra retroflexa var. retroflexa Habit
Dinebra retroflexa var. retroflexa Habit
Dinebra retroflexa var. retroflexa Habit

Spikelets

Dinebra retroflexa var. retroflexa Spikelets
Dinebra retroflexa var. retroflexa Spikelets
Dinebra retroflexa var. retroflexa Spikelets

Description

Loosely tufted annual; culms up to 112 cm. high, slender, usually straggling and ascending from a decumbent base, infrequently erect, much branched and often rooting at the lower nodes. Leaves glandular especially on the sheaths; leaf-blades 4.5–28 cm. long, 4–8 mm. wide, finely pointed; ligule 1.2–1.6 mm. long, minutely lacerate. Inflorescence 8–34 cm. long, linear with short oblong to wedge-shaped densely crowded spikes, varying to elliptic-oblong or pyramidal with longer linear spikes spaced up to 3 cm. apart; spikes 0.6–5(–7) cm. long, stiff, ascending at first, reflexing and deciduous at maturity. Spikelets 1–3-flowered, narrowly wedge-shaped, 5.7–9 mm. long, closely overlapping on the flattened, narrowly green-winged rhachis; glumes narrowly elliptic with caudate curving tips, 6.1–8.2 mm. long, coriaceous, asymmetric, usually overlapping on the abaxial side and obscuring the florets, glandular along the keel; lemmas narrowly ovate, 2.1–2.9 mm. long, appressed pilose along the lateral nerves and on the lower half of the back around the central nerve, acute to emarginate, mucronulate; palea appressed pilose on the flaps alongside the keels. Caryopsis ± 1 mm. long.
(Description source: Clayton, W.D. 1970. Flora of Tropical East Africa. Gramineae (Part 1). Crown Agents for Oversea Governments and Administrations, London. 176 pp. )

Plants loosely tufted. Culms 13–120 cm, decumbent, straggling, often rooting at the lower nodes. Leaves sometimes glandular, particularly on the sheaths; blades 4.5–28 cm long, 4–8 mm wide, finely pointed. Panicles 8–34 cm; branches 0.6–5(7) cm, stiff, initially ascending, reflexed at maturity; disarticulation at the base of the branches. Spikelets 5.7–9 mm, with 1–3 florets. Glumes 5.7–9 mm, asymmetric, coriaceous, keels glandular, apices caudate-curving; lemmas 2.1–2.9 mm, narrowly ovate, appressed pubescent on the lateral veins and adjacent to the lower 1/2 of the central vein; paleas appressed pubescent on the flaps adjacent to the keels. 2n = 20.
(Description source: Barkworth, M.E., Capels, K.M., Long, S. & Piep, M.B. (eds.) 2003. Flora of North America, north of Mexico. Volume 25. Magnoliophyta: Commelinidae (in part): Poaceae, Part 2. Oxford University Press, New York. 783 pp. http://floranorthamerica.org/Dinebra_retroflexa_var._retroflexa )