Grass Genera of the World

L. Watson and M. J. Dallwitz


Borinda Stapleton

Sometimes referred to Arundinaria, Fargesia, Yushania

Habit, vegetative morphology. Perennial. The flowering culms leafy. Culms woody and persistent; branched above. Primary branches/mid-culm node about 7. Unicaespitose. Rhizomes pachymorph. Plants unarmed. Leaves with auricular setae, or without auricular setae. Leaf blades broad, or narrow; 6–25 mm wide; pseudopetiolate; parallel veined; cross veined; disarticulating from the sheaths; rolled in bud. Contra-ligule present, or absent.

Reproductive organization. Plants bisexual, with bisexual spikelets; with hermaphrodite florets. The spikelets hermaphrodite.

Inflorescence. Inflorescence determinate; without pseudospikelets; paniculate; open to contracted; spatheate (with rings of hairs, rather than reduced sheaths, surrounding the ultimate branchlets). Spikelets solitary; not secund; pedicellate.

Female-fertile spikelets. Spikelets morphologically ‘conventional’; 30–55 mm long; compressed laterally; disarticulating above the glumes; disarticulating between the florets. Rachilla prolonged beyond the uppermost female-fertile floret; the rachilla extension with incomplete florets.

Glumes two; very unequal to more or less equal (?); shorter than the spikelets; shorter than the adjacent lemmas; hairless; glabrous; shortly awned; similar. Spikelets with incomplete florets. The incomplete florets distal to the female-fertile florets. The distal incomplete florets merely underdeveloped. Spikelets without proximal incomplete florets.

Female-fertile florets 4–10. Lemmas not becoming indurated; entire; hairy (at least medianly); non-carinate; without a germination flap. Palea present; relatively long; apically notched; 2-keeled. Lodicules present; 3; free; membranous; ciliate; heavily vascularized (?). Stamens 3. Anthers penicillate, or not penicillate. Ovary without a conspicuous apical appendage. Stigmas 2, or 3.

Transverse section of leaf blade, physiology. Mesophyll without arm cells.

Taxonomy. Bambusoideae; Bambusodae; Bambuseae.

Distribution, ecology, phytogeography. 8 species; Tibet, Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan. Glycophytic.

Holarctic. Boreal. Eastern Asian.

References, etc. Morphological/taxonomic: Stapleton (1994).

Special comments. The original description of this genus is very inadequate (e.g. no spikelet morphology at all, and no information on several vegetative features usually employed when describing bamboos), and some of the species are known only from vegetative material. Nevertheless, this brief description, compiled from Stapleton’s (1994) generic and two specific descriptions, may effectively distinguish it. Fruit data wanting. Anatomical data wanting.


Cite this publication as: Watson, L., and Dallwitz, M. J. (1992 onwards). ‘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.’ http://biodiversity.uno.edu/delta/. Version: 18th August 1999. Dallwitz (1980), Dallwitz, Paine and Zurcher (1993 onwards, 1998), and Watson and Dallwitz (1994), and Watson, Dallwitz, and Johnston (1986) should also be cited (see References).

Index