G.597. Ischaemum L.

Description of the genus

Annuals or (in ours) perennials. Inflorescence terminal or axillary, of paired (occasionally single or digitate) racemes; racemes interlocked back to back, thereby simulating a single raceme, lacking homogamous pairs and usually exserted, but sometimes enclosed within, a spatheole; internodes and pedicels clavate to inflated, usually exposed on the back of the raceme as a U- or V-shaped segment. Sessile spikelet dorsally flattened; callus obtuse, inserted in the concave top of the internode; lower glume chartaceous to coriaceous, convex (concave in I. afrum), 2-keeled or rounded on the back, entire or 2-lobed; upper glume with or without an awn; lower floret male; upper lemma 2-fid with a glabrous awn from the sinus. Similar in appearance to Andropogon, Ischaemum may technically be separated by the male lower floret and the U-shaped appearance of the internode and pedicel.

Worldwide: c. 65 species in warm and tropical regions

Malawi: 2 taxa.

Ischaemum afrum

Links to taxa:     View: living plant images - herbarium specimen images - all images for this genus

SpeciesFZ divisionsContent
afrum (J.F. Gmel.) DandySDescription, Image
fasciculatum Brongn.N,SDescription

Other sources of information about Ischaemum:

Our websites:

Flora of Botswana: Ischaemum
Flora of Caprivi: Ischaemum
Flora of Caprivi: cultivated Ischaemum
Flora of Mozambique: Ischaemum
Flora of Zambia: Ischaemum
Flora of Zimbabwe: Ischaemum

External websites:

African Plants: A Photo Guide (Senckenberg): Ischaemum
BHL (Biodiversity Heritage Library): Ischaemum
EOL (Encyclopedia of Life): Ischaemum
GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility): Ischaemum
Google: Web - Images - Scholar
iNaturalist: Ischaemum
IPNI (International Plant Names Index): Ischaemum
JSTOR Plant Science: Ischaemum
Mansfeld World Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Crops: Ischaemum
Plants of the World Online: Ischaemum
Tropicos: Ischaemum
Wikipedia: Ischaemum

Copyright: Mark Hyde, Bart Wursten, Petra Ballings and Meg Coates Palgrave, 2014-24

Hyde, M.A., Wursten, B.T., Ballings, P. & Coates Palgrave, M. (2024). Flora of Malawi: Genus page: Ischaemum.
https://www.malawiflora.com/speciesdata/genus.php?genus_id=237, retrieved 28 March 2024

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