Danthoniopsis ramosa
(Stapf) Clayton
Rock oats
iNaturalist· cc-by-nc
(c) Nick Helme, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Nick Helme
iNaturalist· cc-by-nc
(c) Nick Helme, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Nick Helme
iNaturalist· cc-by-nc
(c) Nick Helme, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Nick Helme
Description
A tussock forming grass. It keeps growing from year to year. It grows up to 1 m high. The leaf blade is 30 cm long and 3 mm wide. The spikelets are 10 mm long. They occur singly or in pairs.
Edible Uses
The seeds are used as cereal.
Distribution
It is a subtropical plant. It grows in hot arid places with a marked dry season. It grows in well-drained soils in rocky or sandy soils. It grows between 500-2,100 m above sea level. It can grow in arid places.
Where It Grows
Africa, Namibia, South Africa, Southern Africa,
Production
The seeds are collected from ant hills.
Notes
It is a C4 plant.
Synonyms
Also Known As
Kliphawer
References (5)
- http://www.sabonet.org.za/downloads/20_namibian_grasses/d_namgrass_list1.pdf
- Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (1999). Survey of Economic Plants for Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (SEPASAL) database. Published on the Internet; http://www.rbgkew.org.uk/ceb/sepasal/internet [Accessed 8th May 2011]
- Ruiters-Welcome, A. K., 2019, Food plants of southern Africa. Ph.D. thesis. Univ. of Johannesburg p 87
- Welcome, A. K. & Van Wyk, B.-E., 2019, An inventory and analysis of the food plants of southern Africa. South African Journal of Botany 122 (2019) 136–179
- World Checklist of Useful Plant Species 2020. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
