Cenchrus caliculatus Cav.

Veldkamp, J. F., 2014, A revision of Cenchrus incl. Pennisetum (Gramineae) in Malesia with some general nomenclatural notes, Blumea 59 (1), pp. 59-75 : 66-67

4. Cenchrus caliculatus Cav.

Cenchrus caliculatus Cav. (1799b) 39, t. 463. — Type: Née in Herb. Cavanilles (holo MA 475502 ; ISC, fragm.), see Garilleti (1993: 49).

Cenchrus australis R.Br. (1810) 196. — Type: R. Brown 6141 (holo BM; E, K; Herb. Trinius 1077.2, left-hand specimen, LE, microfiche IDC BT-16 /1; P, US, fragm.).

Perennials. Culms 1–2(–3) m long, erect to geniculate at base, not rooting. Ligule 0.75–1.6 mm long. Leaf blades 10–20(–55) cm by 3–14(–19) mm. Inflorescence 8–27 cm long. Common axis puberulous, internodes 1–3.4 mm long. Stipe 1–3 by 0.75–3 mm, base obconical, pubescent. Burs loosely spaced, 5.1–11 by 1.9–4.5 mm (excl. bristles), dark pink to wine red, becoming purple. Outer main bristles shorter than the inner spines, retrorsely barbed. Inner spines 8–9, connate only at the very base, forming a small disc or cup, subterete, erect, subequal, margins densely pilose. Spikelets 1 per bur, 3.8–6.5 mm long. Lower glume present (very inconspicuous, easily tearing), 1.2–3.5 mm long, 0–1-nerved; upper glume 3–4.95 mm long, 0–5-nerved. First lemma paleate, sterile to paleate, male, 5–6.5 mm long, 5–7-nerved. Second lemma 3.8–6.15 mm long. Anthers 1.7–2.25 mm long. 2n =?.

Distribution — Malesia: Lesser Sunda Isl. (Timor,Alor), Philippines (Mindanao), Papua New Guinea (Central, Morobe Prov.), Australia (Queensland, New South Wales), New Caledonia, New Zealand, C Pacific ( Micronesia East to the Society Isl.).

Habitat — Roadsides, dry rocky places, locally common, perhaps salt-resistant, 0–1400 m altitude.

Uses — Coarse herbage when young, possibly a good soil binder.

Vernacular names — Hillside-, large-, tall bur grass.

Notes — As it is a native species in Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific, it may well be native in Alor, Timor, and New Guinea as well.

In non-Malesian specimens one inner spine may be consider- ably longer than the others.

Webster (1987: 20) regarded C. australis distinct from C. caliculatus because of smaller involucres and spikelets. A specimen in P labelled “Java, Labillardière” is the larger form with an elongated spine and so must have come from the Pacific. It may even be an isotype of C. anomoplexis Labill. (1824; = C. caliculatus Cav. ).