Melinis repens subsp. grandiflora (Hochst.) Zizka

[Santhan P]

Melinis repens subsp. grandiflora (Hochst.) Zizka;  Fam: Poaceae

(= Rhynchelytrum villosum (Parl.) Chiov.)

14/07/2013

Uddanapalli, Krishnagiri DT, Tamil Nadu,

750m Altitude

Grass in open lands near rainfed land

Fresh spikes  showy red, colour changed upon maturation.

[J.M. Garg]

Hi, Santhan ji,

Is it cultivated as it's not as per range as per the following links, if wild:

WCSP  e-monocot  kyffhauser 

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J.M.Garg

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[Santhan P]

Sir, it is wild and reported in Gamble flora itself. I studied regional flora of this area 25 years back.  It is reported in my dessertation also.

[J.M. Garg]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Manoj Chandran <mach...@gmail.com>
Date: 4 January 2014 14:27
Subject: Re: [efloraofindia:177617] Melinis repens subsp. grandiflora (Hochst.) Zizka
To: "J.M. Garg" <jmg...@gmail.com>

Dear all,

Melinis repens is an exotic invasive species from Africa which has invaded several places in India in the tropical and subtropical zones. The invasion was according to my view triggered by international flights carrying the villous spikelets which could easily fly and enter the aircraft easily through several means. The invasion was initially restricted to slightly higher elevation airports and cities in the Deccan plateau like Bangalore, Hyderabad and Pune. It is also possible that some people may have introduced it as an ornamental species due to its showy pink inflorescences, which later on dispersed their seeds everywhere. Later on, it has spread to several hill stations on the Eastern ghats (Krishnagiri being one of them) and also to the plains of Cauvery basin and elsewhere in Tamilnadu, AP and Orrisa. It has also spread to Delhi and several other places in the Gangetic plains too. It is probable that many other states would also have reports of this grass.  In Kerala, it is found in Trivandrum and Palghat districts where it is comparatively drier than the rest.  The latest invasion is at Dehradun in Uttarakhand, where a few populations can be found in the airport and helipads around. Fortunately, it has not yet climbed the Himalayas. Due to edaphic and other reasons, a lot of variation is seen in the size, colour, hairyness, etc. of the spikelets. The inflorescence is usually different shades of pink to red turning white on maturity, however one can also rarely find other colours too, depending on pigmentation and also minerals in the soil, pH, etc. The cuspidate nature of the glumes also vary considerably. Due to high amount of variation, one should not be tempted to classify them under different species, rather should verify conspecific nature of the variations found. By virtue of its invasive and circum global nature with high level of variation, there is actually no relevance of classification at sub-species level.

Regards...

Manoj Chandran.