Entry for Festuca abyssinica A. Rich. [family GRAMINEAE] http://plants.jstor.org/flora/fz7932 http://www.jstor.org Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the contributing partner regarding any further use of this work. Partner contact information may be obtained at http://plants.jstor.org/page/about/plants/PlantsProject.jsp. Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Page 1 of 4 Entry for Festuca abyssinica A. Rich. [family GRAMINEAE] Herbarium Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (K) Collection Flora Zambesiaca Resource Type Reference Sources Entry from FZ, Vol 10 Part 1 (1971) Author: E. Launert Names Festuca abyssinica A. Rich. [family GRAMINEAE], Tent. Fl. Abyss. 2: 433 (1851). — Engl., Pflanzenw. Ost-Afr. A: 126 (1895); op. cit. C: 116 (1895); — Eggeling, Annot. List Grass. Uganda: 21 (1947). — Robyns & Tournay, Fl. Parc Nat. Alb. 3: 192 (1955). — Bogdan, Rev. List Kenya Grass.: 15 (1958). — Harker & Napper, Ill. Guide Grass. Uganda: 34 (1960). — Napper, Grass. Tangan.: 14 (1965). — W. D. Clayton in F.T.E.A., Gramineae: 60, fig. 21 (1970). TAB. 15. Type from Ethiopia.Festuca schimperana A. Rich. [family GRAMINEAE], Tent. Fl. Abyss. 2: 433 (1851). — Eggeling, Annot. List Grass. Uganda: 21 (1947). — Jackson & Wiehe, Annot. Check List Nyasal. Grass.: 42 (1958). — Type from Ethiopia.Festuca restituta Steud. [family GRAMINEAE], Syn. Pl. Glum. 1: 314 (1854) nom. superfl. Based on Festuca schimperana; however the description refers to Festuca simensis.Festuca rigidula Steud. [family GRAMINEAE], loc. cit. — Eggeling, Annot. List Grass. Uganda: 21 (1947). — F. W. Andr., Fl. Pl. Sudan, 3: 461 (1956). Type from Ethiopia.Festuca abyssinica var. acuta Rendle [family GRAMINEAE], Cat. Afr. Pl. Welw. 2: 255 (1899). Type from Angola.Festuca gelida Chiov. [family GRAMINEAE], in Ann. Bot. Roma, 6: 147 (1907). — Type from Congo Republic.Festuca abyssinica subsp. acamptophylla St. Yves [family GRAMINEAE], in Notizbl. Bot. Gart. Berl. 9: 1132 (1927). Type from Tanzania.Festuca abyssinica var. intermedia St. Yves [family GRAMINEAE], loc. cit. Type from Kenya.Festuca abyssinica var. keniana St. Yves [family GRAMINEAE], loc. cit. Type from Kenya.Festuca abyssinica var. schimperana St. Yves [family GRAMINEAE], loc. cit. Type as for Festuca schimperana.Koeleria afromontana Jacques-Félix [family GRAMINEAE], Gram. Afr. Trop.: 186 (1962) nom. nud. Page 2 of 4 Information A loosely to densely caespitose perennial, rather variable. Culms (15)25-60(80) cm. tall, 2-5-noded, geniculately ascending, sometimes straggling, rarely erect, terete, somewhat weak, glabrous, smooth. Leaf-sheaths striate, open, tight when young but soon slipping off the culm, usually glabrous; the older ones splitting into irregular brown fibres. Ligule 0·5-1 mm. long. Leaf-laminae 4-27 cm. long, up to 3 mm. wide, soft, usually involute, filiform or even acicular. Panicle 7-25 cm. long, rather dense, narrowly oblong to linear in outline, often spike-like; branches short, usually closely appressed to the rhachis, scaberulous. Spikelets shortly pedicelled, 6·5-10(12·5) mm. long, 2-6-flowered, bright to olive green, sometimes tinged with purple, oblong-ovate in outline, not gaping. Glumes membranous, with thinner margins, embracing the spikelet fairly tightly to 2/3 to 3/4 of its length, acute; the inferior 5-8·25 cm. long, 1-3-nerved, lanceolate, slightly asymmetric; the superior 6-10 mm. long, 3 (sometimes 5-)-nerved, lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate. Lemmas 6-9·5 mm. long, narrowly elliptic to ovate-oblong, acute, subacute but usually tapering to an awn point up to 5 mm. long, dorsally scaberulous. Paleas with the keels scaberulous. Anthers 2-2·5 mm. long. Ovary glabrous or with the apex pilose. Altitude range Habitat Growing in mountain grassland, in moist and often peaty soils Distribution Malawi N: Rumpi, Chelinda, 26.v.1967, Salubeni 733 (BM; SRGH). S: Mlanje Mt. near Lichenya, 1740 m., 27.iii.1960, Phipps 2754 (K; PRE; SRGH). Mozambique MS: Manica, Tsetsera, 2220 m., 3.iii.1954, Wild 4468 (K; PRE; SRGH). Zambia N: Luwingu, Chishinga Ranch, 1410 m., 13.ix.1961, Astle 908 (BM; SRGH). Zimbabwe E: Inyanga, on slope of Inyangani up to summit ridge, 30.iv.1965, West 6432 (K., SRGH). Distribution (external) Cameroon; Ethiopia; Kenya; Tanzania, United Republic of; Uganda Notes Festuca abyssinica is an extremely polymorphic sp. of which quite a number of infraspecific taxa have been described, but all of them intergrade to such a degree that it is virtually impossible to key them out. It has often been confused in the herbarium as well as in the field with Koeleria capensis (see. p. Page 3 of 4 69) but this plant can easily be distinguished from Festuca abyssinica by its pubescent to almost tomentose rhachis of the panicle. http://plants.jstor.org/flora/fz7932 Page 4 of 4.