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Hello everybody,
Can someone help me identify this seed?
These seeds were found in a sample Eragrostis tef from Ethiopia.
We think it looks like Paspalum but our collection does not have it.
See attachment.
Thanks a lot!Hello!
These florets look similar to Paspalum racemosum to me; similar size, glossy and translucent lemma, oval to slightly diamond shape. The P. racemosum florets I looked at did not have the white longitudinal nerves on the lemma, the species is native to Peru, and not recorded in Ethiopia. It was imported into Egypt as a forage in the past.
The florets did not look like Paspalum species found in Tropical East Africa such as: P. dilatatum, P. notatum, P. scrobiculatum or P. distichum. The long white nerves are often on Panicum florets, but I haven’t seen a species with a translucent lemma and palea (yet).
I hope this helps, Jennifer
Good morning,
The grass floret looks like Chloris pycnothrix to me, with that small secondary floret. The secondary floret appears to be larger and more well-developed in other Chloris species.
The brown seeds look similar to Leucas martinicensis in the Lamiaceae. The resin glands at the wide end are indicative of the genus, and this species has brown or black seeds with a very glossy surface.
Thank you, Jennifer
Hello everybody,
we also have an unknown seed from Ethiopia. We find it in Guizotia abyssinica and we think about a Pennisetum specie but we don’t have it in our collection.
In this photo you can see the floret and the caryopsis.
Can someone help us identify this seed, please?Thank you very much.
Silvia
Hello Silvia,
I agree with your identification of Pennisetum genus (now merged with Cenchrus). There are many species that occur in tropical Africa that can be difficult to identify to species. I suggest looking at the common P. macrourum (now Cenchrus caudatus), or P. purpureum (C. purpureus). The bristles do not look feather-like in this image which filter out the possible species.
Let me know what you think it might be? JenniferThank you, Jennifer!
We don’t have it in our collection, but we did send this photo to Ethiopia and wait answer.
Hello Jennifer,
thank you very much for your help. I did not find a lot of informations or photos about this seed but I think it might be Cenchrus caudatus: I find an interesting fact-sheet on the Federal Noxious Weed Disseminules of the United States site (they still identify it as Pennisetum macrourum).Best regards,
Silvia
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