GrassBase - The Online World Grass Flora

Descriptions

W.D. Clayton, M. Vorontsova, K.T. Harman & H. Williamson

© Copyright The Board of Trustees, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Bambusa pallida

HABIT Perennial; caespitose. Rhizomes short; pachymorph. Culms erect; 1500–2000 cm long; 25–35 mm diam.; woody; without nodal roots. Culm-internodes terete; 45–75 cm long; dark green; distally pruinose. Lateral branches dendroid. Culm-sheaths 20–30 cm long; 1 times as long as wide; pubescent; hairy throughout; with appressed hairs; truncate at apex; without auricles, or auriculate; setose on shoulders. Culm-sheath blade triangular; as wide as sheath at base; 20–35 cm long; pubescent; acuminate. Leaves cauline. Leaf-sheaths striately veined; glabrous on surface. Leaf-sheath oral hairs setose; deciduous. Leaf-sheath auricles erect. Ligule an eciliate membrane. Collar with external ligule. Leaf-blade base with a brief petiole-like connection to sheath; petiole 0.2 cm long. Leaf-blades lanceolate; 10–20 cm long; 12–20 mm wide. Leaf-blade midrib conspicuous. Leaf-blade venation with 8–12 secondary veins. Leaf-blade surface hirsute; hairy abaxially. Leaf-blade margins scabrous. Leaf-blade apex acuminate; antrorsely scabrous.

INFLORESCENCE Synflorescence bractiferous; clustered at the nodes; in untidy tufts; with glumaceous subtending bracts; with axillary buds at base of spikelet; prophyllate below lateral spikelets.

FERTILE SPIKELETS Spikelets comprising 3–8 fertile florets; with diminished florets at the apex. Spikelets lanceolate; straight, or curved; subterete; 25–32 mm long; breaking up at maturity; disarticulating below each fertile floret. Rhachilla internodes definite; clavate; pilose; hairy at tip.

GLUMES Glumes several; 1–2 empty glumes; persistent; shorter than spikelet.

FLORETS Fertile lemma ovate; 6–8 mm long; without keel. Lemma surface glabrous; inner surface pubescent. Lemma apex acute; mucronate. Palea 5–7 -veined. Palea keels ciliolate. Apical sterile florets resembling fertile though underdeveloped.

FLOWER Lodicules 3; membranous; veined; ciliate. Anthers 6; anther tip apiculate. Stigmas 3. Ovary umbonate; pubescent on apex.

FRUIT Caryopsis with adherent pericarp.

DISTRIBUTION Asia-temperate: China. Asia-tropical: India and Indo-China.

NOTES Bambuseae. Gamble 1995.

Please cite this publication as detailed in How to Cite Version: 3rd February 2016.