Cladoraphis (common name bristly lovegrass)Fardenguides, Bristly Lovegrass, Cladoraphis /United States Department of Agriculture Plants Profile, Cladoraphis Franch. bristly lovegrass is a genus of African plants in the grass family, native to southern Africa.Franchet, Adrien René. 1887. Bulletin Mensuel de la Société Linnéenne de Paris 1: 673-674 description in Latin, commentary in FrenchGibbs 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. Its phylogenetic position within the subfamily has not yet been resolved.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.2010.01.018Grassbase - The World Online Grass Flora
SpeciesKew World Checklist of Selected Plant FamiliesThe Plant List search for Cladoraphis Cladoraphis cyperoides (Thunb.) S.M.Phillips - Angola, Cape Province, Namibia; naturalized in the Columbia River Gorge in the US State of OregonBiota of North America Program 2014 county distribution map 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).
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.
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).
References