Lygeum

Description

Lygeum spartum is a rhizomatous hermaphroditic, perennial grass growing up to 75 cm tall. The rhizome and the base of the stem are scaly. The leaves are threadlike but stiff and tough, measuring up to 50 cm long. The inflorescence is made up of a few long-haired spikelets each up to 4.5 cm long. They are wrapped in a lance-shaped bract called a spatheole. This sheath is 3 to long and can have a sharp point.

Distribution

Lygeum spartinum is native to southern Europe and North Africa, where its distribution includes Crete, Italy, Spain, Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, and Tunisia. It may have been introduced to Kashmir.

Habitat

Rocky sea shores, or on dry sandy or clay and often calcareous soil.

Uses

Lygeum spartum fibres have high tensile strength and flexibility, and is used for making ropes, sandals, baskets, mats and other durable articles. They have also used in the manufacture of high quality paper. It can also be used locally as a fodder for livestock and to stabilise sand dunes and rehabilitate salt soils, due to its tolerance of saline conditions.

References

References

1. [http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/namedetail.do?name_id=423191 Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families]
2. [https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/394257#page/224/mode/1up Palisot de Beauvois, Ambroise Marie François Joseph. 1812. Essai d'une Nouvelle Agrostographie 140]
3. [http://www.tropicos.org/Name/40036552 Tropicos, ''Spartum'' P. Beauv.]
4. Linnaeus, Carl von. 1754. Genera Plantarum, ed. 5 27, (522).
5. Abdeddaim-Boughanmi, K. and M. Kaid-Harche. (2009). [http://docsdrive.com/pdfs/sciencepublications/ajabssp/2009/201-205.pdf Structure, ultrastructure of the anther, pollen microsporogenesis and morphology of pollen grains of two populations of ''Lygeum spartum'' L. in Algeria.] ''American Journal of Agricultural and Biological Sciences'' 4(3), 201-05.
6. (2017). "A worldwide phylogenetic classification of the Poaceae (Gramineae) II: An update and a comparison of two 2015 classifications". Journal of Systematics and Evolution.
7. [http://luirig.altervista.org/flora/taxa/floraspecie.php?genere=Lygeum Altervista Flora Italiana, genere ''Lygeum'', Sparto steppico, Esparto Grass]
8. It is similar to ''[[Macrochloa tenacissima]]''Garcı́a-Fuentes, A., et al. (2001). [http://hera.ugr.es/doi/15017527.pdf Review of communities of ''Lygeum spartum'' L. in the south-eastern Iberian Peninsula (western Mediterranean).] ''Journal of Arid Environments'' 48(3), 323-39.
9. Watson, L. and M. J. Dallwitz. 1992 onwards. [http://delta-intkey.com/grass/www/lygeum.htm ''Lygeum''.] {{Webarchive. link. (19 November 2007 The Grass Genera of the World. DELTA – DEscription Language for TAxonomy. Version: 18 December 2012.)
10. Clayton, W. D., et al. (2006 onwards). [http://www.kew.org/data/grasses-db/www/gen00365.htm ''Lygeum''.] GrassBase - The Online World Grass Flora.
11. [http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=5&taxon_id=220007935 ''Lygeum spartum''.] Flora of Pakistan.
12. {{GRIN. ''Lygeum spartum''. 22991
13. [https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=506619 ''Lygeum spartum''.] Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS).
14. "Lygeum spartum". Encyclopedia of Life.
15. "Lygeum spartum - Loefl. ex L.". Plants For A Future.
16. "Esparto". [[Encyclopædia Britannica]].
17. Bouzid Nedjimi. (2009). "Salt tolerance strategies of Lygeum spartum L.: A new fodder crop for Algerian saline steppes". Flora - Morphology, Distribution, Functional Ecology of Plants.