Brachiaria deflexa (Schumach.) C.E. Hubbard ex Robyns
Brachiaria deflexa (Schumach.) C.E. Hubbard ex Robyns
MG007 : Brachiaria deflexa (Schumach.) C.E. Hubbard ex Robyns
| Plant Category | : | Grasses |
| Melghat's Flora's Serial No. | : | 564 |
| Synonym | : | Pseudobrachiaria deflexa (Schumach.) Launert ; |
| Plant Common Name | : | Annual brachiaria, False signal grass, |
| Plant Family | : | Poaceae / Gramineae |
| Description | : | Annual grass up to 70(100) cm tall; stems (culms) solitary or tufted, slender, often weak and ascending. Leaves alternate, simple and entire; leaf sheath pale, striate, finely pubescent; ligule ciliate; blade broadly linear to narrowly lanceolate, 425 cm ื 0.52.5 cm, velvety pubescent. Inflorescence panicle-like, composed of 515 racemes borne on an axis 615 cm long; racemes distant, widely spreading, 210 cm long, often with side-branches, bearing mostly paired distant spikelets. Spikelet up to 15 mm long stalked, broadly elliptical, 23.5 mm long, glabrous to pubescent, acute, 2-flowered with lower floret male or sterile and upper bisexual; lower glume up to half as long as spikelet, upper glume as long as spikelet, membranous, 7-veined; lemma of lower floret membranous, lemma of upper floret wrinkled and acute; palea of upper floret obtuse to acute; stamens 3; ovary superior, with 2 stigmas. Fruit a caryopsis (grain), ellipsoid, compressed.
Brachiaria comprises about 100 species distributed in the tropics and subtropics, mainly in the Old World. It has been proposed that Brachiaria be nearly completely reduced to Urochloa. Brachiaria deflexa is usually easily distinguishable from other Brachiaria species by its panicle-like inflorescence, which resembles that of Panicum spp. It intergrades with Brachiaria ramosa (L.) Stapf and is sometimes included in the latter. Guinea millet is often confused with fonio (Digitaria exilis (Kippist) Stapf). Compared to fonio, it has larger grains and it grows faster, but it requires higher soil fertility and better drainage. The cultivated type sown in the Fouta Djallon Highlands (called var. sativa Port่res) differs from the wild types harvested elsewhere particularly by being totally glabrous and by having a branched stem and much larger grains; furthermore, it is non-shattering.
Some Guinea millet types mature in as little as 7075 days, but most types take 90130 days to reach maturity. Guinea millet follows the C4-cycle photosynthetic pathway. |
| Plant Location in Melghat | : | |
| Medicinal Use / Activity | : | |
| Plant's Phytochemicals | : | COMPOUNDS: ACTIVE COMPOUNDS (0): |
| Plant's Current Status | : | |
| Plant's Cross Database Reference | : | 259142 |
| Reference | : | Dhore M. A. (1984) The flora of melghat tiger reserve
- Isaiah, A.M. & Komi, T. (2015). Grasses in the Botswana National Botanic Garden South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria Page 6. |
| Reference | : | ~ Dhore MA and Joshi PA; "Flora of Melghat Tiger Reserve"; Directorate, Project Tiger, Melghat (1988); PMID : |
| Kingdom | : Plantae - Plants |
|---|---|
| Phylum | : Tracheophyta |
| Subkingdom | : Tracheobionta - Vascular plants |
| Superdivision | : Spermatophyta - Seed plants |
| Division | : Magnoliophyta - Flowering plants |
| Class | : Liliopsida - Monocotyledons |
| Subclass | : Commelinidae |
| Order | : Cyperales |
| Family | : Poaceae / Gramineae - Grass family |
| Genus | : Brachiaria (Trin.) Griseb. - signalgrass |
| Species | : Brachiaria deflexa (Schumach.) C.E. Hubbard ex Robyns |