Flora of the Hawaiian Islands
Monocotyledon Literature for Melinis repens
Wagner et al., 1990, 1999; Lorence & Wagner, 2019.
   Poaceae -- The Grass Family Bibliography
      Melinis repens

Common name(s): Natal grass, Natal redtop
General Information
DistributionNative to Africa and now widely naturalized throughout the tropics.In the Hawaiian Islands, naturalized on Midway, Ni`ihau, Kaua`i, O`ahu, Moloka`i, Lana`i, Maui, Kaho`olawe, Hawai`i.
















Habit
Annual or perennial; culms loosely tufted, subcoriaceous, erect or ascending, 3-10 dm tall, often many-branched, glabrous.
Leaves
Leaves with sheath 7‒10(‒20) cm long, proximal ones sometimes papillose-pilose; ligule densely ciliate, ca. 1 mm long; blade usually glaucous, flat or folded, 5‒30 cm long, 2‒10 mm wide, striate, adaxial surface scaberulous, abaxial surface glabrous.
Flowers
Inflorescences a fluffy panicle, glossy, pink or purple, color fading with age, ovoid to oblong, 5‒20 cm long, branches ascending, 3‒9 cm long, scaberulous, pedicel usually pilose in distal part. Spikelets ovate, 2.5‒8.5 mm long, villous, hairs extending 1‒4 mm beyond apex; first glume narrowly oblong, 0.3‒3.5 mm long, pilose, separated from second glume by an internode 0.1‒1.2 mm long, second glume chartaceous, conspicuously gibbous, tapering to a glabrous membranous beak ¼‒½ the length of the glume, emarginate, mucronate, or with an inconspicuous awn to 7(‒10) mm long; first lemma narrower and less gibbous than second glume, first palea ciliate on the keel; second lemma ca. 2.5 mm long, short-stipitate, second palea similar to second lemma, but thinner, pale green to white, smooth, glossy, 1.6‒1.8 mm long, faintly 2-veined, apex obtuse, awnless.
Fruit
Caryopsis pale brown, narrowly ovoid, 1.2-1.5 mm long, smooth.
Chromosomes
2n = 18, 36
Contributor
Nancy Khan