''Panicum turgidum'' is an old world clumping desert

bunchgrass Tussock grasses or bunch grasses are a group of grass species in the family Poaceae. They usually grow as singular plants in clumps, tufts, hummocks, or bunches, rather than forming a sod or lawn, in meadows, grasslands, and prairies. As perennial ...

of the genus ''

Panicum ''Panicum'' (panicgrass) is a large genus of about 450 species of grasses native throughout the tropical regions of the world, with a few species extending into the northern temperate zone. They are often large, annual or perennial grasses, growi ...

''. It is a plant of arid regions across Africa and Asia, and has been introduced to other parts of the world.

Description

''Panicum turgidum'' is a

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

bunchgrass, growing in dense bushes up to tall. The stems are long-jointed, hard and polished, with few leaves, resembling bamboo shoots. Side shoots branch out at the nodes, and the stems bend over and root when the nodes get buried. The

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

is a terminal panicle up to long with solitary spikelets some long. The roots are covered in hairs to which fine sand adheres creating a felted appearance. This is a drought- and salt-tolerant species, and used for flour, fodder, thatch and

erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is distin ...

control.

Distribution and habitat

It is common across the

Sahara , photo = Sahara real color.jpg , photo_caption = The Sahara taken by Apollo 17 astronauts, 1972 , map = , map_image = , location = , country = , country1 = , ...

and

Arabia The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plate. ...

, from

Senegal Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 � ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

, and known by a number of common names, most widely as Taman, tuman, or thaman in Egypt and Arabia; merkba or markouba in Mauritania and some Saharan Arabics; and afezu in Tamachek. Other common names include guinchi (eastern

Sahara , photo = Sahara real color.jpg , photo_caption = The Sahara taken by Apollo 17 astronauts, 1972 , map = , map_image = , location = , country = , country1 = , ...

) and du-ghasi (

Somalia Somalia, , Osmanya script: 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖; ar, الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constituti ...

). It grows on sand dunes in hot, dry climates, and will also grow in latosols.

Ecology

In the Nigerien Sahara, tussocks of ''Panicum turgidum'' act as a nurse plants for tree regeneration. They have been shown facilitating the regeneration of ''Acacia tortilis'' subsp. ''raddiana'' by protecting seedlings from drought and domestic herbivory. Accordingly, transplanting seedlings of Saharan trees inside ''Panicum''’s tussocks may promote substantially reforestation in degraded areas on a long-term scale. The leaves and shoots of this grass are palatable to livestock, and camels and donkeys will also eat it in the dry state.

References

p. 261. Board on Science and Technology for International Development, Office of International Affairs, National Research Council. Lost Crops of Africa: Volume I: Grains
The National Academies of Science, United States. (1996) . * * * Clayton, W.D., Harman, K.T. and Williamson, H. (2006 onwards). GrassBase - The Online World Grass Flora

(accessed 4 January 2009)

*[http://ispi-lit.cirad.fr/text/Culmsee97c.htm Culmess, Heike. (1997): Investigations on the feeding and migration behavior of the Desert Locust Schistocerca gregaria depending on the vegetation of Mauritania]. Project Integrated Biological Control of Grasshoppers and Locusts. Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH.
Fabien Anthelmea, Maman Waziri Matob, Dimitri de Boissieua, Franck Giazzi. (2006). DÉGRADATION DES RESSOURCES VÉGÉTALES AU CONTACT DES ACTIVITÉS HUMAINES ET PERSPECTIVES DE CONSERVATION DANS LE MASSIF DE L'AÏR (SAHARA, NIGER)
VertigO . VOLUME 7, Numéro 2, Art. 15.

External links

* * * {{Taxonbar, from=Q3768293 turgidum Flora of the Arabian Peninsula Flora of the Indian subcontinent Flora of North Africa Flora of Northeast Tropical Africa Flora of the Republic of the Congo Flora of West Tropical Africa Flora of Western Asia Plants described in 1775