Trichanthecium delicatulum Zuloaga, comb. nov.
Creators: name: Zuloaga, Fernando Omar
name: Aliscioni, Sandra
name: Delfini, Carolina
name: Salariato, Diego Leonel
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Plantae
Tracheophyta
Liliopsida
Poales
Poaceae
Trichanthecium
Trichanthecium delicatulum

description: 5. Trichanthecium delicatulum (Fig. & De Not.) Zuloaga, comb. nov.
Panicum delicatulum Figari & De Notaris (1854: 351).
Type:— SUDAN. “In Nubia superior ad flumen caeruleum”, Figari s.n. (not found, probably at TO). Fig. 6
Panicum lepidum Hochstetter ex Chiovenda (1906: 61).
Lectotype (here designated):— ETHIOPIA. “W. Schimper. Pl. Abyss. Ed. II Hohenack. (1852), n 2020”, prope Djeladjeranne, G. H. W. Schimper 2020 (S05 -[8786] image!, isolectotypes GOET [006775] image!, JE [00006119] image!, LG [0000090035814] image!, LG [0000090035777] image!, M [0103984] image!, MPU [024437] image!, P [02251163!], P [002251164!], P [00442149!], S [S05-8787] image!, TUB [006439] image!, TUB [006440] image!, W [19160019406!], W [18890236383!]).
Panicum figarianum Chiovenda (1917: 60).
Type:—“ Abissinia: sotto gli..…. preso Djeladjeranne”, 1200–1500 m, G. H. W. Schimper 1840 (holotype FT?, not located).
Panicum caudiglume Stapf (1920: 727), nom. illeg., non Hack., 1901. Panicum nyassense Napper (1963: 130).
Type:— MOZAMBIQUE. Nyasaland District: Shire Highland, Namasi, May 1899, K. J. Cameron 16 (holotype K [000255519!]).
Annual, not tufted; culms geniculately ascending; slender; rooting and branching at the lower nodes, 10–30(–50) cm long; internodes cylindrical, hollow, hirsute, 3–8 cm long. Sheaths striate, 1–5 cm long, densely pilose with tuberculate trichomes, the margins long ciliate toward the apex, cilia ca. 2 mm long. Ligule membranous, 0.5 mm long, with long trichomes, up to 2 mm long, beneath at the base of the blade. Blades ovate-lanceolate, 3–8 × 0.4–1.2 cm, flat, narrowed at the base, the apex acuminate, densely to sparsely hairy, the margins scabrous. Inflorescence an open panicle 3–8 cm long; peduncle cylindrical, 5–8 cm long, glabrous; pulvini glabrous; main axis sparsely pilose, first-order branches alternate, divergent, axis of the branches hispid, spikelets solitary on first- and second-order branches, pedicels claviform, 1–3 mm long, glabrous. Spikelets narrowly ellipsoid, 2–2.5(–2.8) × 0.8–0.9 mm; lower glume 0.3–0.5 mm long, 1/6 to 1/4 the length of the spikelet, hispid, membranous, hyaline, obtuse, nerveless; upper glume as long as the spikelet, hispid, membranous, 3-nerved, aristate, awn up to 1 mm long; lower lemma glumiform, hispid, 3-nerved, acute; lower palea as long as the lower lemma, elliptic, hyaline, glabrous; lower flower staminate, anthers 3. Upper anthecium ovoid, 1.2–2 × 0.6–0.9 mm, shorter than the upper glume, indurate, pale, shiny. Caryopsis not seen.
Distribution and habitat: —East tropical Africa; present in forest margins, shade of boulders and rocky outcrops, at 1000–2400 m elevation.
Typification: —When describing this species, Chiovenda included the specimen Schimper 2020 without indicating a herbarium where the specimen is kept. Here, we designate a collection from S, [S05-8786], as the lectotype since it agrees with the protologue and is a complete collection; isolectotypes are included from other herbaria.
The type specimen of Panicum figarianum could not be located at FT; in this herbarium there is a specimen labeled as type, FI [0001123!], collected by A. R. Delile, but is not part of the type gathering of this species. However, there is a specimen at TUB [006440!], Schimper s.n., which is an isotype of the species.
Note: —This species is characterized by the presence of a reduced lower glume and with the upper glume long acuminate.
Representative specimens examined: — MALAWI. Nyika Plateau, 11 April 1969, Pawek 2110 (K); Ntchisi Mt., 6 May 1963, Verboom 965 (K); Nyasaland, slopes of Dedza, 27 March 1950, Wiehe N/465 (K, US). TANZANIA. Sumbawanga District: Tatanda, 25 April 2006, Bidgood et al. 5701 (P). Kigoma District: Tubira Forest, 26 April 1994, Bidgood & Vollesen 3185 (K, P); Iringa Region, Mufindi District: Lake Ngwazi, 9 April 1986, Lovett & Bidgood 629 (MO, US); Tilosa District: Ukaguru Mountains, Ihanga rock, 2 June 1978, Thulin & Mhoro 2856 (C, K); on slopes of Mbeya Mountain near the small village of Iwala near Lunji Farm, Lovett & Kayombo 22 (MO); Mshewe, Ihanga riverine forest, Lovett & Kayombo 211 (MO); Mporoto Ridge, ca. 4 km NW of Igoma on NW slope of Mlima wa Bangi, 24 April 1989, Gereau et al. 3429 (MO). ZAMBIA. Mbala, 14 April 1959, McCallum-Webster A319 (K).
description: Published as part of Zuloaga, Fernando Omar, Aliscioni, Sandra, Delfini, Carolina & Salariato, Diego Leonel, 2024, Old World species of Trichanthecium (Poaceae: Panicoideae: Paniceae) including a new species from the Democratic Republic of Congo, pp. 230-264 in Phytotaxa 646 (3) on page 243, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.646.3.2, http://zenodo.org/record/13215433