The grass genera of the world
The grass genera of the world | |
Name referring to Sasa (a bamboo genus, q.v.) and geography.
Sometimes referred to Arundinaria, Pseudosasa - including A. ciliata A. Camus and A. pusilla Chevalier and Camus
Habit, vegetative morphology. Perennial; rhizomatous. The flowering culms leafy. Culms 50–150 cm high (small bamboos); woody and persistent; to 1 cm in diameter; cylindrical; branched above. Primary branches/mid-culm node not stated - ‘branches fasciculate’. Culm internodes solid, or hollow. Rhizomes leptomorph. Plants unarmed. Leaves not basally aggregated; auriculate; with auricular setae. Leaf blades linear-lanceolate; narrow; 2–8(–10) mm wide; broadly cordate (‘subauriculate’); pseudopetiolate; cross veined; disarticulating from the sheaths. Ligule present; membranous.
Reproductive organization. Plants bisexual, with bisexual spikelets; with hermaphrodite florets.
Inflorescence. Inflorescence determinate, or indeterminate (? -in V. pusilla, where the presence and number of glumes is variable, and the lower is sometimes gemmiparous); with pseudospikelets (?), or without pseudospikelets; spatheate, or espatheate. Spikelet-bearing axes ‘racemes’, or spikelike (flowering branches ‘simple’); clustered (in fascicles); persistent. Spikelets sessile to pedicellate.
Female-fertile spikelets. Spikelets 30–70 mm long; compressed laterally; disarticulating above the glumes; disarticulating between the florets. Rachilla prolonged beyond the uppermost female-fertile floret.
Glumes present, or absent (sometimes, in V. pusilla); when present, one per spikelet to two (V. pusilla), or two. Lower glume shorter than the lowest lemma. Spikelets with incomplete florets. The incomplete florets distal to the female-fertile florets. The distal incomplete florets merely underdeveloped.
Female-fertile florets 6–12. Lemmas lanceolate; awnless; hairless; multinerved. Palea present; relatively long; entire, or apically notched; awnless, without apical setae; several nerved; 2-keeled. Lodicules present; 3; free; membranous; ciliate; not toothed; heavily vascularized (below). Stamens 6. Anthers 3.5–7 mm long (the filaments short). Ovary without a conspicuous apical appendage. Styles basally fused. Stigmas 3; red pigmented.
Fruit, embryo and seedling. Fruit longitudinally grooved.
Taxonomy. Bambusoideae; Bambusodae; Bambuseae.
Distribution, ecology, phytogeography. 3 species (V. darlacensis, V. ciliata, V. pusilla); southern Vietnam.
Paleotropical. Indomalesian. Indo-Chinese.
References, etc. Morphological/taxonomic: Nguyen, T.Q. (1990). New taxa of bamboos (Poaceae, Bambusoideae) from Vietnam. Botanicheskii Zhurnal 75, 221–225. See Chevalier and Camus 1921, A. Camus 1919 and E.G. & A. Camus 1923 for descriptions of included Arundinaria (Pseudosasa) species.
Special comments. Description inadequate. Fruit data wanting. 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’.