Family: Poaceae |
Mary E. Barkworth The following description needs to be modified to reflect the very different circumscription of Dinebra published by Peterson et al. (2012) in Annals of Botany 109: 1317–1329. Plants annual. Culms 13-120 cm, not woody. Ligules membranous, truncate, lacerate, sometimes ciliate; blades linear, flat. Inflorescences terminal, panicles of 1-70, 1-sided, spikelike branches, irregularly disposed on elongate rachises, clearly exceeding the upper leaves; branches with 2 rows of 1 or more closely imbricate, sessile spikelets, proximal spikelets sometimes replaced by short, tardily deciduous, secondary branches; disarticulation at the base of the branches or at the base of the secondary branches and (eventually) beneath the florets. Spikelets laterally compressed, cuneate, with 1-3 florets.Glumes subequal, much longer than the florets, usually exceeding the distal florets, coriaceous or membranous, strongly keeled, acuminate-aristate;lemmas thinly membranous, weakly keeled, 3-veined, pilose over the veins, apices acute to 2-lobed, central veins excurrent, forming mucros. Caryopseselliptic-oblong, trigonous. x = 10. Name a corruption of the Arabic danaiba, little tail, an allusion to the prolonged apices of the glumes. SELECTED REFERENCES: Peterson, P.M., K. Romaschenko,, N. Snow, and G. Johnson (2012). A molecular phylogeny and classification of Leptochloa (Poaceae:Chloridoideae: Chlorideae) sensu lato and related genera. Annals of Botany 109(7):1317-1329; Reed, C.F.1964. A flora of the chrome and manganese ore piles at Canton, in the Port of Baltimore, Maryland and at Newport News, Virginia, with descriptions of genera and species new to the flora of the eastern United States. Phytologia 10:321-405. T.A. Cope (1996) Dinebra, Drake-Brockmania. Flora of Somalia 4: 175, 176) Plants annual or perennial; culms erect or decumbent. Ligules (0.2-)0.5-5.5(-7) mm long, membranous, erose or entire, never ciliate. Inflorescences composed of short, racemelike branches usually racemosely but sometimes digitately or subdigitately attached the central axis; branches usually single at each node, from well spaced to dense and the inflorescences subcapitate. Spikelets laterally compressed, with several to many florets, eventually disarticulating between the florets but sometimes the whole branch breaking off all the florets fall; glumes unequal or subequal; lower glumes with 0-3-veined; upper glumes 1-9-veined, as long as to greatly exceeding the florets, tips acute to acuminate or aristate; lemmas keeled, thinly membranous, 3-7-veined, often pubescent on the lower portion of the veins and margins, emarginate, acute, cuspidate, or mucronate but not awned. Caryopses ellipsoid, sometimes trigonous in cross-section. Dinebra, as delimited by Snow and Peterson (2012), includes 9 species. They range from Africa through the Arabian Peninsula and southern Asia to Australia. The above description has been developed from information in the Flora of Somalia, Snow and Peterson (2012), and POWO (2022). Key to the species of Dinebra in Somaliland and Somalia.
Global distribution of Dinebra. Note: GBIF records include introduced and cultivated plants. Consequently, the distribution shown often differs from statements about a taxon's native distribution. Peterson, P.M., K. Romaschenko, N. Snow, & G. Johnson (2012) A molecular phylogeny of Leptochloa (Poaceae: Chloridoideae: Chlorideae). Ann. Bot. 109: 1317–1329. POWO (2022) Dinebra in "Plants of the World Online. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet; http://www.plantsoftheworldonline.org/ Retrieved 11 August 2022". Snow, N. & P.M. Peterson (2012) Nomenclatural notes on Dinebra, Diplachne, Disakisperma, and Leptochloa (Poaceae: Chlorioideae). Phytoneuron 2012-71:1-2. ISSN 2153 733X. Snow, N., P.M. Peterson, K. Romaschenko (2013) Systematics of Disakisperma (Poaceae, Chloridoideae, Chlorideae). PhytoKeys 26: 21–70. doi: 10.3897/phytokeys.26.5649 Snow, N., P.M. Peterson, K. Romaschenko, B.K. Simon (2018) Monograph of Diplachne (Poaceae, Chloridoideae, Cynodonteae). PhytoKeys 93: 1-102. https://doi.org/10.3897/phytokeys.93.21079 |