Family: Poaceae |
J.K. Wipff FNA 25 Plants annual or perennial; cespitose. Culms (2)5-65 cm, herbaceous, usually rooting at the lower nodes; nodes and internodes glabrous. Leaves cauline; sheaths open, usually shorter than the internodes, mostly glabrous but long-ciliate at the edges of the collar; ligules membranous, truncate, ciliate; blades usually flat, margins ciliate. Inflorescences terminal, exceeding the upper leaves, narrow, cylindrical panicles; branches 0.5-5 mm, resembling burs, with 2-5 spikelets; disarticulation at the base of the branches. Spikelets crowded, attached individually to the branches, with 1 floret; proximal spikelet(s) bisexual, larger than the distal spikelet(s); terminal spikelets often sterile. Glumes unequal; lower glumes absent or minute, veinless, membranous; upper glumes usually exceeding the florets, 5-7-veined, with 5-7 longitudinal rows of straight or uncinate spinelike projections; lemmas 3-veined; paleas 2-veined, hyaline, membranous. x = 10. Name from the Greek tragos, he-goat. Key to species in North America north of Mexico, Pakistan, Somaliland and Somalia T.A. Cope (1995) Tragus. Flora of Somalia 4: 213-214 Plants annual or perennial. Inflorescences panicles composed of a single, elongate central axis and numerous, short, spikelike, deciduous branches of 2-5 spikelets, these contiguous or on very short common axes, sometimes the distal spikelets reduced. Spikelets with 1 floret; lower glumes a minute scale or absent; upper glumes scarcely exceeding the florets, rounded, 5-7-veined, the veins forming prominent ribs, some of them bearing stout, hooked, prickles, tips acute to acuminate; lemmas acute. Tragus includes seven species. They are native throughout the tropics. Three species grow in Somaliland and Somalia. Key to the species of Tragus in Somaliland and Somalia. Global distribution of Tragus. Note: GBIF records include introduced and cultivated plants. Consequently, the distribution shown often differs from statements about a taxon's native distribution.
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