Fargesia Franch. (sensu stricto)
Sometimes referred to Thamnocalamus
Excluding Ampelocalamus, Chimonocalamus, Drepanostachyum, Sinarundinaria (see comments)
Habit, vegetative morphology. Perennial. Culms woody and persistent; cylindrical (by contrast with Phyllostachys). Primary branches/mid-culm node 5–20 (? - ‘numerous’). Plants unarmed. Leaves not basally aggregated. Leaf blades pseudopetiolate; cross veined; disarticulating from the sheaths; rolled in bud.
Reproductive organization. Plants bisexual, with bisexual spikelets; with hermaphrodite florets.
Inflorescence. Inflorescence dense paniculate; spatheate. Spikelet-bearing axes persistent. Spikelets secund (inflorescence ‘almost one-sided’); pedicellate.
Female-fertile spikelets. Spikelets compressed laterally; disarticulating above the glumes. Rachilla prolonged beyond the uppermost female-fertile floret; the rachilla extension with incomplete florets.
Glumes two; hairy (‘slightly pilose’); pointed (acuminate); awnless; similar. Lower glume 5 nerved. Upper glume 7–9 nerved. Spikelets with incomplete florets. The incomplete florets distal to the female-fertile florets. The distal incomplete florets usually 2; merely underdeveloped. Spikelets without proximal incomplete florets.
Female-fertile florets usually 2. Lemmas acuminate; similar in texture to the glumes; not becoming indurated; entire; pointed; without tessellate venation. Palea present (without tessellate venation); 2-keeled. Lodicules present; 3; membranous; ciliate. Stamens 3. Anthers with the connective apically prolonged. Ovary without a conspicuous apical appendage. Styles fused (into one). Stigmas 3.
Fruit, embryo and seedling. Fruit longitudinally grooved. Hilum long-linear. Endosperm containing compound starch grains.
Taxonomy. Bambusoideae; Bambusodae; Bambuseae.
Distribution, ecology, phytogeography. 2 species; China.
Holarctic. Boreal. Eastern Asian.
Special comments. Clayton and Renvoize (1986) and Soderstrom and Ellis (1987) propose very different generic interpretations of the species in this circle of affinity, but there are no available descriptions adequate for the present purpose. Soderstrom and Ellis (1987) propose including Ampelocalamus Chen, Wen and Shang, Chimonocalamus Hsueh and Yi, Drepanostachyum Keng f. and Sinarundinaria Nakai, and speak elsewhere (1988) of ‘fargesioid’ Arundinaria species. Clayton and Renvoize include the first three in Sinarundinaria, and include Fargesia in Thamnocalamus. To further complicate matters, Sinarundinaria is sometimes presented as a synonym of Phyllostachys Sieb. and Zucc. 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).