The grass genera of the world
The grass genera of the world | |
Named for N. Chandrasekharan Nair, Indian botanist.
Habit, vegetative morphology. Annual; decumbent. Culms 20–40 cm high; herbaceous; unbranched above. Culm nodes glabrous. Leaves not basally aggregated; non-auriculate. Leaf blades ovate; narrow (but relatively broad); conspicuously cordate; persistent. Ligule an unfringed membrane (obscure).
Reproductive organization. Plants bisexual, with bisexual spikelets; with hermaphrodite florets.
Inflorescence. Inflorescence paniculate; contracted; capitate to more or less ovoid; not comprising ‘partial inflorescences’ and foliar organs. Spikelet-bearing axes persistent. Spikelets not secund; pedicellate (the scabrid pedicels up to 1.5 mm long).
Female-fertile spikelets. Spikelets 5–6 mm long; compressed laterally; disarticulating above the glumes; disarticulating between the florets (supposedly). Rachilla terminated by a female-fertile floret. Callus short.
Glumes present; two; very unequal; about equalling the spikelets; (G2) long relative to the adjacent lemmas; hairy (G1 densely hairy with tubercle-based hairs, on the upper half), or hairless (the G2 merely scaberulous on the nerves); without conspicuous tufts or rows of hairs; pointed; shortly awned (each attenuate into a straight or curved, scabrous, 3 mm awn); very dissimilar (the smaller G1 being hairy). Lower glume 7 nerved. Upper glume 7 nerved. Spikelets with female-fertile florets only; without proximal incomplete florets.
Female-fertile florets 2. Lemmas leathery or firmly membranous; not becoming indurated; incised; 2 lobed; not deeply cleft (minutely bidentate); awned. Awns 1; median; from a sinus; non-geniculate; straight; hairless (scabrid); much shorter than the body of the lemma (1.5–2 mm long). Lemmas hairless; smooth, save for the scaberulous midrib; 5 nerved. Palea present; relatively long; apically notched; awnless, without apical setae (hairy below); thinner than the lemma (hyaline); not indurated; 2-nerved; 2-keeled. Palea keels wingless. Lodicules present; 2; free; fleshy; glabrous. Stamens 3. Anthers 1.25 mm long; not penicillate; without an apically prolonged connective. Ovary glabrous. Styles free to their bases. Stigmas 2.
Fruit, embryo and seedling. Fruit small (about 1 mm long). Hilum short (punctiform).
Transverse section of leaf blade, physiology. C3 (‘leaf anatomy almost identical to Jansenella’, according to Clayton & Renvoize 1986).
Taxonomy. Panicoideae (?); Panicodae; Arundinelleae (? - not reliably classifiable without a better description).
Distribution, ecology, phytogeography. 1 species; India.
Paleotropical. Indomalesian. Indian.
References, etc. Morphological/taxonomic: Nair, Ramachandran and Sreekumar 1982.
Special comments. Anatomical data wanting.
This description is offered for casual browsing only. We strongly advise against extracting comparative information from it. This is much more easily achieved using the interactive key, which allows access to the character list, illustrations, full and partial descriptions, diagnostic descriptions, differences and similarities between taxa, lists of taxa exhibiting specified attributes, summaries of attributes within groups of taxa, geographical distribution, classification, and species sampled for anatomy.
Cite this publication as: ‘Watson, L., and Dallwitz, M.J. 1992 onwards. The grass genera of the world: descriptions, illustrations, identification, and information retrieval; including synonyms, morphology, anatomy, physiology, phytochemistry, cytology, classification, pathogens, world and local distribution, and references. Version: 11th February 2012. http://delta-intkey.com’.