Ehrharta calycina

Ehrharta calycina is a species of grass known by the common names perennial veldtgrass and purple veldtgrass.

Ehrharta calycina
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Clade: Commelinids
Order: Poales
Family: Poaceae
Genus: Ehrharta
Species:
E. calycina
Binomial name
Ehrharta calycina

Distribution

It is native to southern Africa; from South Africa (within the Cape Provinces, Free State and KwaZulu-Natal), Lesotho and Namibia.[1]

It grows in Veld grassland habits and on low-lying sandy areas.[2]

Description

Ehrharta calycina is a highly variable perennial grass, often but not always rhizomatous.

It usually reaches 30–70 centimetres (12–28 in) in height, but is known to grow much taller in favorable conditions.

The inflorescence is a narrow to wide open array of spikelets light in color when new and becoming darker and tinted purple to reddish with age.

Taxonomy

The Latin specific epithet of calycina is derived from calycinus meaning like a calyx or with a prominent calyx.[3] It was first described and published in Pl. Icon. Ined. on table 33 in 1789.[1]

Introduced / invasive species

The grass is an introduced species, including places such as; California, Egypt, Hawaii, India, New South Wales, New Zealand North, Portugal, South Australia, Spain, Tasmania, Texas, Tunisia, Victoria and Western Australia.[1] Sometimes becoming a noxious weed outside its native range.

It is an invasive species in California, where it is an invasive weed of chaparral and coastal sage scrub habitat along the southern and central coastal regions.[4] It was first introduced to Davis in the Sacramento Valley as a drought-tolerant range grass for grazing.[5][6]

It is also known as an invasive species and weed in parts of Australia.

The species has been added to the list of invasive alien species of Union Concern.[7] This means it is now forbidden to trade, import and breed this plant in all Member States of the European Union.[8]

References

  1. "Ehrharta calycina Sm. | Plants of the World Online | Kew Science". Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
  2. Vermeulen, H.C.; Nel, J.A.J. (1988). "The bush Karoo rat Otomys unisulcatus on the Cape West coast". S. Afr. J. Zoo. 23 (2).
  3. Harrison, Lorraine (2012). RHS Latin for Gardeners. United Kingdom: Mitchell Beazley. ISBN 184533731X.
  4. California Invasive Plant Council: Ehrharta calycina profile
  5. FAO Profile
  6. "Grass Manual Treatment". Archived from the original on 2011-06-11. Retrieved 2009-05-13.
  7. "European Regulation on IAS". June 2021. Archived from the original on 2017-07-29.
  8. "European Regulation on IAS". June 2021. Archived from the original on 2015-09-10.
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