Crinipes

Crinipes is a genus of herbaceous plants belonging to the Poaceae family. It is native to Ethiopia, Sudan and Uganda. It includes 4 described species and of these, only 2 accepted.

Description

They are perennial plants; tussocks with stems 45-160 cm tall; herbaceous; not branched above. The leaves mostly basal; non-auriculate, leaf-blades linear to linear-lanceolate, narrow, 5-14 mm broad (in C. longifolius 'up to 6 mm' in C. abyssinicus ); not setaceous; flat or rolled (then rolled); without venation. Ligule with a fringe of hairs. Bisexual plants, with bisexual spikelets; with hermaphrodite flowers. The paniculate inflorescences.

Taxonomy

The genus was described by Christian Ferdinand Friedrich Hochstetter and published in Flora 38: 279. 1855. The type species is: Crinipes abyssinicus (Hochst. ex A. Rich.) Hochst.

Etymology

The name of the genus derives from the Latin crinum (hair) and pes (foot), referring to the lower edge of the glume.

Accepted species

The following is a list of the species of the genus Crinipes accepted up to November 2013, arranged alphabetically. For each one, the binomial name followed by the author is indicated, abbreviated according to conventions and uses.

• Crinipes abyssinicus (Hochst. ex A.Rich.) Hochst.
• Crinipes longifolius C.E.Hubb.