young shoot icon Home All plants About

Melinis repens (Willd.) Zizka

Rose natal grass (en)

Species

Angiosperms > Poales > Poaceae > Melinis

Characteristics

Annual or loosely tufted short-lived perennial. Culms geniculately ascending, often rooting at lower nodes, up to 150 cm tall. Leaf sheaths loose, usually with tubercle-based hairs; leaf blades linear, up to 20 × 0.2–1.4 cm. Panicle silvery-pink or purple, ovate to oblong, 8–20 cm, fluffy; branches capillary; pedicels with a few long hairs. Spikelets ovate, 2–4.5 mm, densely villous, hairs up to 6 mm; lower glume narrowly oblong, 0.3–1.5 mm, 1-veined, with stiff short hairs, separated from the upper by a short internode; upper glume 5-veined, gibbous below middle, tapering upward into a glabrous membranous beak 1/4–1/2 its length, emarginate, mucronate or with short awn up to 1 mm; lower floret staminate, lemma similar to upper glume but narrower and less gibbous, palea keels ciliate; upper floret whitish, thinly cartilaginous, smooth, shining, ca. 2 mm. Fl. and fr. Jun–Nov. 2n = 36.
More
Tufted annual or short-lived perennial, 0.25-1.20(-1.50) m high. Leaf blade 40-150 (-180) x 2-11(-13) mm; ligule a fringe of hairs. Inflorescence a panicle; pedicels with long hairs towards apex, attached centrally to base of spikelet. Spikelets 2.2-12.0 x 2-3 mm, laterally compressed, glabrous to densely hairy, hairs exceeding spikelet; glumes unequal; internode between glumes 0.1-1.7(-2.0) mm long; lower glume (0.3-) 0.6-3.0(-4.3) mm long; upper glume and lower lemma gibbous, tapering into an elongated narrow, glabrous beak; upper glume 5-nerved, mucronate or awn (2-)12-22 mm long, hairy or glabrous. Florets 2; lower floret male, lemma 5-nerved, awned or awnless, palea keels ciliate; anther 1.5-2.2 mm long; upper floret bisexual, lemma hard, smaller than lower lemma. Flowering time Sept.-July.
Annual or perennial to 80 cm. Leaves linear, leaf sheaths not overlapping. Spikelets shining red, silver and mauve.
Life form annual
Growth form
Growth support free-standing
Foliage retention deciduous
Sexuality hermaphrodite
Pollination -
Spread -
Mature width (meter) -
Mature height (meter) 0.3 - 1.0
Root system -
Rooting depth (meter) -
Root diameter (meter) -
Flower color
Blooming months
JanFebMar
AprMayJun
JulAugSep
OctNovDec
Fruit color -
Fruiting months
JanFebMar
AprMayJun
JulAugSep
OctNovDec
Nitrogen fixer -
Photosynthetic pathway c4

Environment

Light 7-9
Soil humidity 1-5
Soil texture -
Soil acidity -
Soil nutriment -
Hardiness (USDA) 8-10

Usage

Uses animal food environmental use material medicinal
Edible leaves
Therapeutic use Cyanogenetic (unspecified)
Human toxicity -
Animal toxicity -

Cultivation

Mode -
Germination duration (days) -
Germination temperacture (C°) -
Germination luminosity -
Germination treatment -
Minimum temperature (C°) -
Optimum temperature (C°) -
Size -
Vigor -
Productivity -

Images

Habit

Melinis repens habit picture by Trap Hers (cc-by-sa)
Melinis repens habit picture by susan brown (cc-by-sa)
Melinis repens habit picture by susan brown (cc-by-sa)

Leaf

Melinis repens leaf picture by susan brown (cc-by-sa)
Melinis repens leaf picture by Leigh Winowiecki (cc-by-sa)
Melinis repens leaf picture by christiane Fazer (cc-by-sa)

Flower

Melinis repens flower picture by susan brown (cc-by-sa)
Melinis repens flower picture by susan brown (cc-by-sa)
Melinis repens flower picture by susan brown (cc-by-sa)

Fruit

Melinis repens fruit picture by Gaëtan Ncl (cc-by-sa)
Melinis repens fruit picture by Tertxu García (cc-by-sa)

Distribution

Melinis repens world distribution map, present in Aruba, Angola, Åland Islands, Benin, Burkina Faso, Bangladesh, Bahamas, Belize, Bolivia (Plurinational State of), Brazil, Botswana, Central African Republic, China, Congo, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Cuba, Cayman Islands, Djibouti, Dominica, Ecuador, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Georgia, Ghana, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Haiti, Indonesia, Italy, Kenya, Kuwait, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Lesotho, Morocco, Moldova (Republic of), Madagascar, Myanmar, Mozambique, Mauritania, Mauritius, Namibia, Norfolk Island, Nigeria, Nicaragua, Nauru, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Paraguay, Réunion, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Solomon Islands, Sierra Leone, Somalia, eSwatini, Seychelles, Chad, Togo, Thailand, Tonga, Taiwan, Province of China, Tanzania, United Republic of, Uganda, Uruguay, United States of America, Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of), Viet Nam, Wallis and Futuna, Yemen, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe

Identifiers

LSID urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:2945817-1
WFO ID wfo-0000879582
COL ID 3ZFLC
BDTFX ID 168343
INPN ID 630929
Wikipedia (EN) Link
Wikipedia (FR)

Synonyms

Panicum braunii Panicum roseum Panicum tonsum Rhynchelytrum repens Rhynchelytrum tonsum Tricholaena dregeana Tricholaena fragilis Tricholaena violacea Tricholaena sphacelata Rhynchelytrum gossweileri Tricholaena atropurpurea Tricholaena repens Tricholaena rosea f. violacea Panicum teneriffae var. roseum Rhynchelytrum dregeanum var. annuum Rhynchelytrum dregeanum var. intermedium Rhynchelytrum repens var. roseum Tricholaena grandiflora var. collina Tricholaena repens var. rosea Tricholaena rosea var. ruderalis Tricholaena rosea var. sphacelata Tricholaena tonsa var. submutica Panicum roseum f. hirtum Erianthus repens Panicum sphacelatum Rhynchelytrum roseum Rhynchelytrum ruficomum Rhynchelytrum stolzii Saccharum repens Melinis repens

Lower taxons

Melinis repens subsp. grandiflora Melinis repens subsp. nigricans Melinis repens subsp. repens Melinis repens subsp. maroccana
WorldFloraDB 2024