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.

Schizostachyum andamanicum

HABIT Perennial; caespitose. Rhizomes short; pachymorph. Culms arching; 300–400 cm long; 12–18 mm diam.; woody. Culm-internodes terete; hollow; 18–22 cm long; yellow, or light green; distally pubescent. Culm-nodes swollen; glabrous. Lateral branches dendroid. Branch complement many; with subequal branches. Culm-sheaths 13–16 cm long; 3 length of internode; green; hispid; with tawny hairs; auriculate; with 2 mm high auricles; setose on shoulders; shoulders with curved hairs. Culm-sheath ligule 2 mm high. Culm-sheath blade lanceolate; erect; 5–7 cm long; 4–8 mm wide; pubescent; acuminate. Leaf-sheaths glabrous on surface. Leaf-sheath oral hairs scanty. Leaf-sheath auricles falcate; 1 mm long. Ligule an eciliate membrane. Leaf-blade base with a brief petiole-like connection to sheath. Leaf-blades lanceolate; 8–22 cm long; 26–48 mm wide. Leaf-blade surface glabrous.

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

Fertile spikelets sessile.

FERTILE SPIKELETS Spikelets comprising 1 fertile florets; with a barren rhachilla extension. Spikelets lanceolate; laterally compressed; 6–12 mm long; breaking up at maturity; disarticulating below each fertile floret.

GLUMES Glumes two; shorter than spikelet. Lower glume ovate; 0.33 length of spikelet. Upper glume ovate; 0.8–0.9 length of spikelet.

FLORETS Fertile lemma ovate; 5–9 mm long; 3–4 mm wide; chartaceous; without keel. Lemma margins convolute; covering most of palea. Lemma apex acute. Palea tightly convolute around flower; 4–7 mm long; chartaceous. Palea keels contiguous above a sulcus. Palea apex dentate; 2 -fid.

FLOWER Lodicules 3; ovate; 1–3 mm long. Anthers 6; 2.5–3 mm long; anther tip pubescent. Stigmas 3. Ovary with a steeple-like appendage; glabrous.

FRUIT Caryopsis with free brittle pericarp; 18 mm long.

DISTRIBUTION Asia-tropical: Indo-China.

NOTES Bambuseae. Kumar & Remesh 2005.

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