Plant descriptions ²

A tall perennial, throwing up dense fascicles of leaves from a short oblique annulate sparingly branched rhizome, usually barren but occasionally giving rise to a stout erect culm up to over 6 ft. high, 7–8-noded and simple below the panicle, up to 4 lin. thick at the base, glabrous, smooth, longest lower internodes up to over 1 ft. long, pruinose below the nodes. Leaf-sheaths terete, those of the barren shoots much widened at the base, and tightly clasping each other, narrow and separating upwards, with rounded shoulders at the mouth, 4 in. to 1 ft. long, subcoriaceous, quite glabrous and smooth, more or less cinnamon coloured or russet on the inside; sheaths of the culms tight, shorter than the internodes, finely pubescent or velvety at the nodes; ligules very short, scarious, rounded or truncate; blades linear, long-attenuated towards the base and tapering upwards to a long setaceous point, up to over 3 ft. long by 3–9 lin. wide, very firm, glaucous-green, glabrous, smooth or more or less rough upwards and along the margins; midrib somewhat stout below, whitish on the upper side; primary lateral nerves 4–6 on each side, raised particularly above with 2–4 secondary nerves between them. Spatheate panicle decompound to supradecompound, loose, 1 to over 2 ft. long, nodding; internodes 4 to over 6, the longest up to 8 or 9 in. long, rapidly decreasing in length upwards; lowest primary branches undivided at the base, up to over 1 1/2 ft. long, and up to 5- or 6-noded, the following forming mixed tiers of very unequal variously compound and simple rays, ultimate tiers up to 4-rayed; rays 1– 1/2 in. long, filiform and glabrous; lower subtending leaves with tight sheaths and normal but abbreviated blades; spathes narrow-lanceolate, acute or acuminate, 2–1 in. long, herbaceous or subherbaceous, with narrow membranous margins. Spatheoles very narrow, linear-lanceolate to almost subulate when inrolled, 7–9 lin. long, acute or finely acuminate, reddish to rich russet; peduncles 3–5 lin. long, glabrous. Racemes 2-nate, finally spreading at right angles or epinastically deflexed, moderately dense, 7–12 lin. long, pale, variously tinged with dull purple, loosely villous, one subsessile, the other with a slender filiform bare base, almost 1 lin. long and hairy, the pedicel of the homogamous pair also slender, though short; fertile joints filiform, slender, 1–1 1/2 lin. long, ciliate on both sides, cilia increasing upwards to more than 1 lin., tips obliquely auriculate and cupular; adjacent pedicels very similar. Homogamous pair of spikelets 1 at the base of the sessile raceme, its sessile member usually slightly differing in shape from the fertile spikelets. Fertile spikelets linear or linear-lanceolate, acutely acuminate, 2 1/2–3 lin. long, reddish, glabrous; callus short, obtuse, minutely bearded. Glumes subequal; lower subchartaceous, slightly depressed towards the base, otherwise flat on the back, keels acute, scaberulous above; intracarinal nerves 0 or 1, short or indistinct; upper glume boat-shaped, slightly curved on the back, acute, keeled upwards. Lower floret reduced to a hyaline linear-oblong or almost linear sub-2-nerved valve, ciliolate above, slightly shorter than the glumes. Upper floret hermaphrodite: valve narrowly linear, acute, about 2 lin. long, usually entire and awnless, rarely more or less 2-fid with a small bristle from the sinus. Anthers 1 lin. long. Pedicelled spikelets ♂ or neuter, linear to subulate-lanceolate, as long as the sessile, reddish, glabrous; lower glume 5–9-nerved, upper 3-nerved; valve shorter to much shorter than the glumes, hyaline, ciliolate, of upper floret very narrowly linear, nerveless if present at all.

Elevation ²

Uncertain

Similar species ²

Syn. Andropogon cerifer ; Andropogon ceriferus ;< i>Andropogon citratus ; Andropogon citriodorus ; Andropogon fragrans ; < i>Andropogon nardus subsp. < i>ceriferus ; < i>Andropogon roxburghii .

Reference ²

O. STAPF, 1917, Flora of Tropical Africa, Vol 9, page 1.
CYMBOPOGON citratus Stapf [family POACEAE], in Kew Bulletin, 1906, 357.

Sources and Credits

1. (c) Anna, some rights reserved (CC BY), http://www.flickr.com/photos/45257563@N00/1119524832
2. (c) Romer Rabarijaona, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)

More Info

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