Lintonia

Stapf
Source: 
SSA
Description: 
Perennial, tufted, stoloniferous. Leaf blade narrow-linear, expanded, tapering to a fine acuminate point; ligule an unfringed membrane, truncate. Inflorescence of 1-5 spike-like racemes, digitate or subdigitate; spikelets solitary, shortly pedicelled. Spikelet 6-10 mm long, plump, wedge-shaped, laterally compressed, disarticulating above glumes but not between florets; glumes unequal, shorter than spikelet, membranous, 1-nerved, weakly keeled, awnless, dissimilar; lower glume shorter than upper glume, lanceolate, obtuse; upper glume oblong, notched at apex. Florets 4-10, lower 2-4 bisexual, upper or uppermost floret reduced and sterile; lemmas firmer than glumes, similar, broad, obovate, rounded on back, 5-9-nerved, nerves slightly shorter than lemma, shortly 2-lobed, hairy, hairs short, stiff, sharp-pointed to obtuse or club-shaped, in rows on lower half or towards base of lobes, shortly awned from between lobes or from back near apex; awn straight to curved, not geniculate; callus hairy; palea elliptic-lanceolate, shortly 2-lobed, flat dorsally, 2-keeled, ciliate on keels. Lodicules 2, oblong. Stamens 3. Ovary shortly stalked, oblong; styles fused at base, plumose. Caryopsis dorsiventrally flattened, enclosed within a free hyaline pericarp. x = 15 (1 report).
Distribution: 
Species 2, Africa; 1 in sthn Afr.: Lintonia nutans Stapf, Botswana, northern provinces of South Africa, Mpumalanga and Swaziland.
Classification: 

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Scratchpads developed and conceived by (alphabetical): Ed Baker, Katherine Bouton Alice Heaton Dimitris Koureas, Laurence Livermore, Dave Roberts, Simon Rycroft, Ben Scott, Vince Smith