Cladoraphis Explained

Cladoraphis (common name bristly lovegrass)^{[1] [2]} is a genus of African plants in the grass family, native to southern Africa.^{[3] [4]} Its phylogenetic position within the subfamily has not yet been resolved.^{[5] [6]}

Species^{[7] [8]}

• Cladoraphis cyperoides (Thunb.) S.M.Phillips - Angola, Cape Province, Namibia; naturalized in the Columbia River Gorge in the US State of Oregon^[9]
• Cladoraphis spinosa (L.f.) S.M.Phillips - Western Cape and Northern Cape provinces of South Africa, Namibia; common name spiny love grass, volstruisgras or volstruisdoring (Afrikaans for ostrich grass).^[10]

Both species occur along the coast of south western Africa. C. cyperoides occurs on coastal dunes from Angola all the way to the Cape peninsula. C. spinosa occurs on sandy flats from Namibia to Cape Agulhas and the Little Karoo.^[11]

Cladoraphis spinosa is a spiny, bushy perennial up to 60 cm in height. Its leaves are lanceolate, rolled, rigid and pungent. Spikelets occur in rigid panicles, and primary branches are persistent, spiny, less than their own length apart, 6–18 mm long, and perpendicular to branchlets. It flowers in the austral summer months (August–May).

Notes and References

1. http://www.gardenguides.com/taxonomy/bristly-lovegrass-cladoraphis Fardenguides, Bristly Lovegrass, Cladoraphis
2. https://plants.usda.gov/core/profile?symbol=CLADO United States Department of Agriculture Plants Profile, Cladoraphis Franch. bristly lovegrass
3. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/11162103#page/26/mode/1up Franchet, Adrien René. 1887. Bulletin Mensuel de la Société Linnéenne de Paris 1: 673-674
4. Gibbs Russell, G.E., L. Watson, M. Koekemoer, L. Smook, N.P. Barker, H.M. Anderson, and M.J. Dallwitz. Grasses of Southern Africa (ed. O.A. Leistner). National Botanic Gardens, Botanical Research Institute, Pretoria, Republic of South Africa. 437 pp.
5. Peterson, P.M., K. Romaschenko, and G. Johnson. 2010. A classification of the Chloridoideae (Poaceae) based on multi-gene phylogenetic trees. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 55:580-598; doi10.1016/y.ympev.2010.01.018
6. http://www.kew.org/data/grasses-db/www/gen00137.htm Grassbase - The World Online Grass Flora
7. http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/namedetail.do?name_id=451265 Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
8. http://www.theplantlist.org/tpl1.1/search?q=Cladoraphis The Plant List search for Cladoraphis
9. http://bonap.net/MapGallery/County/Cladoraphis%20cyperoides.png Biota of North America Program 2014 county distribution map
10. Web site: Kyffhäuser flora - Cladoraphis spinosa. www.kyffhauser.co.za. 2019-08-06.
11. Book: Manning, John. Plants of the Greater Cape Floristic Region 1: The Core Cape Flora. Goldblatt. Peter. Strelitzia 29- South African National Biodiversity Institute. 2012. 978-1-919976-74-7. Pretoria.