Tripogonella minima (A.Rich.) P.M.Peterson & Romasch.

Tripogonella minima (A.Rich.) P.M.Peterson & Romasch. View in CoL , Taxon 65(6): 1278. 2016. Festuca minima A.Rich., Tent. Fl. Abyss. 2: 436. 1850. Tripogon minimus (A.Rich.) Hochst. ex Steud., Syn. Pl. Glumac. 1: 301. 1854. Lectotype (designated by Peterson et al., 2016): ETHIOPIA, Prope Djeladjeranne in montibus versus fluvium Tacaze, 03.08.1840, G.W. Schimper 1652 (P [P00439486 digital image!]). Fig. 1 View Fig

Small caespitose perennials. Culms 2–5 cm tall, erect, slender, wiry, with 1 or 2 nodes; nodes c. 0.32 × 0.61 mm, glabrous. Leaf sheaths mostly basal, 4– 11.4 mm long, 0.2–0.47 mm wide, closely enclosing culms, glabrous, finely striate, involute along margins, persistent at the base, and becoming fibrous as they age; ligules c. 0.13 × 0.78mm, membranous with rim of hairs, hairs c. 0.08 mm long; leaf-blades c. 5.0 mm long, c. 0.01 mm wide, flat to folded, filiform, 8–10-veined, very minutely scabrid along margin and upper surface, apex acute. Inflorescence a spikelike raceme with a single spikelet per node; peduncles 10–17 mm long, c. 0.37 mm wide, enclosed by upper leaf sheath; racemes 10–43 mm long, straight or slightly curved towards apex; spikelets alternate, distichous, linear to narrowly elliptic, sub-sessile to shortly pedicellate on a sinuous, c. 0.35 mm wide rachis, 3–6-flowered, laterally compressed, membranous, basal ones 1.93–2.69 × 0.26–0.39 mm, distal ones 2.54–3.47 × 0.60–0.67 mm, green tinged with purple; pedicels c. 0.2 mm long, spaces between the spikelets gradually decreasing from base to apex, c. 4.10 mm at the base and c. 1.35 mm at apex. Lower glumes oblonglanceolate, 1.30–1.81 × 0.18–0.35 mm, lobed above the middle on one side, acuminate at apex, 1-veined, scabrid on the midvein, thinly membranous. Upper glumes narrowly oblong, 1.78–1.95 × 0.23–0.31 mm, apex acute to sub-obtuse, 1-veined, scabrid on vein and at apex. Lemma elliptic, 1.28–1.32 × 0.32– 0.36 mm (excluding awn), rounded on the back, 3-veined, lateral awns only slightly excurrent, stramineous on veins, apex emarginate with two small teeth, mucronate from the sinus, the mucro c. 0.8 mm long. Callus villous, densely bearded in front at the base of the rachilla internode; hairs 0.14– 0.78 mm long, whitish. Paleas elliptic-lanceolate, 0.8–1.05 × 0.20–0.25 mm, shorter than lemma, apex acute, narrowly winged on the keels; keels minutely ciliolate along the margins. Lodicules minute, obcuneate, c. 0.23 × 0.20 mm, apex truncate. Stamens 3; filaments, 0.26–0.30 long; anthers 0.26–0.31 × c. 0.12 mm, purplish-pink. Ovary ellipsoid, c. 0.23 × 0.16 mm; style 0.07 mm long; stigma 0.30–0.36 mm long, purplish-pink.

Flowering & fruiting: Flowering and fruiting from May to July.

Habitat: The species is known from only one locality in Telangana ( India) in open areas of dry deciduous forests. It grows in association with Chrysopogon fulvus (Spreng.) Chiov. , Oropetium roxburghianum (Schult.) S.M.Phillips (both Poaceae ) and Hyptis suaveolens (L.) Poit. ( Lamiaceae ).

Distribution: Indigenous to tropical Africa, excluding the Congo basin, and southwards to Natal; Cape Verde Islands and Madagascar ( Phillips & Launert, 1971), recently naturalised in India (Telangana).

Specimens examined: INDIA, Telangana, Medak district, Chegunta , N 17 ̊ 58' 13.6452" E 78 ̊ 26' 51.6372", 564 m, 28.06.2020, J . Swamy 009302 (BSID).

Notes: The species is similar to Tripogon purpurascens in its habit and 2-lobed lemma with the midvein extending in to a small mucro and the lateral lobes awnless, but differs in having shorter culms, glabrous leaf blades, number of florets, shorter racemes, length of spikelets, shape and size of glumes, length of lemmas, shape and size of paleas and length of anthers.