Crinipes Hochst.
From the Latin Crinum (hair) and pes (foot), referring to the awn on the lower glume.
Excluding Crinipes (Triraphis) longipes = Nematopoa
Habit, vegetative morphology. Perennial; caespitose. Culms 45–160 cm high; herbaceous; unbranched above. Young shoots extravaginal. Leaves mostly basal; non-auriculate. Leaf blades narrowly linear to linear-lanceolate; narrow; 5–14 mm wide (in C. longifolius, ‘up to 6 mm’ in C. abyssinicus); not setaceous; flat, or rolled (then convolute); without cross venation; disarticulating from the sheaths; a fringe of hairs.
Reproductive organization. Plants bisexual, with bisexual spikelets; with hermaphrodite florets.
Inflorescence. Inflorescence paniculate (medium to large); open to contracted; more or less irregular; espatheate; not comprising ‘partial inflorescences’ and foliar organs. Spikelets not secund; pedicellate.
Female-fertile spikelets. Spikelets compressed laterally; disarticulating above the glumes; disarticulating between the florets. Rachilla prolonged beyond the uppermost female-fertile floret; hairy; the rachilla extension with incomplete florets. Hairy callus present. Callus blunt.
Glumes two; very unequal; shorter than the spikelets; shorter than the adjacent lemmas (1/2 to 3/4 as long); without conspicuous tufts or rows of hairs; pointed (acuminate); awned to awnless (usually mucronate or short-awned); similar (thinly membranous). Lower glume 1 nerved. Upper glume 1 nerved. Spikelets with incomplete florets. The incomplete florets distal to the female-fertile florets. The distal incomplete florets merely underdeveloped. Spikelets without proximal incomplete florets.
Female-fertile florets 2–3. Lemmas narrowly ovate to narrowly oblong-ovate; not becoming indurated (scarious-membranous); entire to incised; when incised, 2 lobed; not deeply cleft (bidenticulate); awned. Awns 1; median; from a sinus, or apical; non-geniculate; straight, or flexuous; hairless (scaberulous); much longer than the body of the lemma. Lemmas hairy (but only between the lateral nerves and the margins); non-carinate (rounded on the back); 3 nerved; with the nerves non-confluent. Palea present; relatively long; awnless, without apical setae; textured like the lemma (thinly membranous); not indurated; 2-nerved; 2-keeled. Palea back glabrous. Palea keels wingless. Lodicules present; 2; free; fleshy; ciliate, or glabrous. Stamens 3. Anthers 2–2.5 mm long. Ovary glabrous. Styles free to their bases. Stigmas 2; brown (‘yellowish’).
Fruit, embryo and seedling. Fruit free from both lemma and palea; small (1.8 to 2 mm long); compressed dorsiventrally (ventrally flat, dorsally convex). Hilum short (linear, but only 1/4 to 1/3 the length of the grain). Embryo small (1/4 to 1/3 the length of the grain).
Abaxial leaf blade epidermis. Costal/intercostal zonation conspicuous. Papillae absent. Long-cells markedly different in shape costally and intercostally (the costals narrower); of similar wall thickness costally and intercostally (fairly thick walled). Mid-intercostal long-cells regularly rectangular; having markedly sinuous walls (the sinuosity fine). Microhairs absent. Stomata absent or very rare (a few only seen, near the blade margin). Subsidiaries non-papillate; parallel-sided and dome-shaped. Guard-cells overlapping to flush with the interstomatals. Intercostal short-cells very common; not paired (solitary). Neither macrohairs nor prickles seen, except for prickles at the margins. Costal zones with short-cells. Costal short-cells conspicuously in long rows (but the short-cells fairly long). Costal silica bodies present and well developed; ‘panicoid-type’; consistently, conspicuously nodular.
Transverse section of leaf blade, physiology. C3; XyMS+ (the mestome sheath cells thick walled). Mesophyll with radiate chlorenchyma (especially around the smaller bundles); with adaxial palisade; Isachne-type (in places, especially around minor bundles). Leaf blade with distinct, prominent adaxial ribs; with the ribs very irregular in sizes (small over the smaller bundles, large and flat topped over the primaries). Midrib not readily distinguishable; with one bundle only. The lamina symmetrical on either side of the midrib. Bulliforms present in discrete, regular adaxial groups (in each furrow); in simple fans. All the vascular bundles accompanied by sclerenchyma. Combined sclerenchyma girders present (with every bundle); forming ‘figures’ (‘anchors’ with the smaller bundles, heavy I’s with the primaries). Sclerenchyma not all bundle-associated. The ‘extra’ sclerenchyma in abaxial groups (or rather, in the form of single cells); abaxial-hypodermal, the groups isolated (opposite the bulliforms, but not of universal occurrence).
Taxonomy. Arundinoideae; Danthonieae.
Distribution, ecology, phytogeography. 2 species; Ethiopia, Sudan, Uganda. In rocky places.
Paleotropical. African. Saharo-Sindian and Sudano-Angolan. Sahelo-Sudanian and Somalo-Ethiopian.
References, etc. Morphological/taxonomic: Hubbard 1957. Leaf anatomical: this project.
Cite this publication as: Watson, L., and Dallwitz, M. J. (1992 onwards). ‘Grass Genera of the World: Descriptions, Illustrations, Identification, and Information Retrieval; including Synonyms, Morphology, Anatomy, Physiology, Phytochemistry, Cytology, Classification, Pathogens, World and Local Distribution, and References.’ http://biodiversity.uno.edu/delta/. Version: 18th August 1999. Dallwitz (1980), Dallwitz, Paine and Zurcher (1993 onwards, 1998), and Watson and Dallwitz (1994), and Watson, Dallwitz, and Johnston (1986) should also be cited (see References).