Cladoraphis (common name bristly lovegrass)[2][3] is a genus of African plants in the grass family, native to southern Africa.[4][5] Its phylogenetic position within the subfamily has not yet been resolved.[6][7]
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.[12]
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).[12]
^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.
^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
^ abManning, John; Goldblatt, Peter (2012). Plants of the Greater Cape Floristic Region 1: The Core Cape Flora. Pretoria: Strelitzia 29- South African National Biodiversity Institute. ISBN978-1-919976-74-7.
