Grass Genera of the World

L. Watson and M. J. Dallwitz


Garnotia Brongn.

Named for Prosper Garnot (1794–1838), French naval surgeon and naturalist.

Including Berghausia Endl., Miquelia Arn. & Nees

Habit, vegetative morphology. Annual (rarely), or perennial; rhizomatous, or caespitose (mostly), or decumbent. Culms unbranched above. Culm nodes hairy (usually), or glabrous. Culm internodes solid, or hollow. Leaves mostly basal, or not basally aggregated; non-auriculate. Leaf blades narrow; without cross venation; disarticulating from the sheaths, or persistent; ligule present; a fringed membrane; short.

Reproductive organization. Plants bisexual, with bisexual spikelets; with hermaphrodite florets; exposed-cleistogamous, or chasmogamous; with hidden cleistogenes, or without hidden cleistogenes. The hidden cleistogenes (when present) in the leaf sheaths (in concealed, contracted panicles).

Inflorescence. Inflorescence of spicate main branches, or paniculate; open, or contracted; non-digitate; espatheate; not comprising ‘partial inflorescences’ and foliar organs. Spikelet-bearing axes persistent. Spikelets solitary (rarely), or in triplets (rarely), or paired; not secund; pedicellate; consistently in ‘long-and-short’ combinations, or not in distinct ‘long-and-short’ combinations; unequally pedicellate in each combination. The ‘shorter’ spikelets hermaphrodite. The ‘longer’ spikelets hermaphrodite.

Female-fertile spikelets. Spikelets 2–5 mm long (?); not noticeably compressed to compressed dorsiventrally; falling with the glumes. Rachilla terminated by a female-fertile floret. Hairy callus present, or absent.

Glumes two; relatively large (membranous); more or less equal (the G1 usually slightly longer than the G2); about equalling the spikelets; long relative to the adjacent lemmas; awned, or awnless; very dissimilar (the G1 more or less convex, the G2 flattened and often furrowed on the back). Lower glume convex on the back; 3–5 nerved. Upper glume 3–5 nerved. Spikelets with female-fertile florets only; without proximal incomplete florets.

Female-fertile florets 1. Lemmas decidedly firmer than the glumes (cartilaginous); not becoming indurated; entire, or incised; when incised, 2 lobed; when incised, not deeply cleft (shortly bidentate or bisetaceous); awnless (rarely), or mucronate (rarely), or awned (usually). Awns when present, 1; from a sinus, or apical; non-geniculate, or geniculate; much shorter than the body of the lemma to much longer than the body of the lemma. Lemmas hairless; glabrous; non-carinate (convex); without a germination flap; 3–5 nerved. Palea present; relatively long (with ciliate margins, and auricles near the base); 2-nerved. Lodicules present; 2; free; fleshy; ciliate, or glabrous. Stamens 3. Anthers not penicillate. Ovary glabrous. Styles free to their bases. Stigmas 2.

Fruit, embryo and seedling. Hilum short (round). Embryo large, or small.

Abaxial leaf blade epidermis. Costal/intercostal zonation conspicuous. Papillae absent. Long-cells similar in shape costally and intercostally, or markedly different in shape costally and intercostally (with the costals longer and narrower); of similar wall thickness costally and intercostally. Mid-intercostal long-cells rectangular (narrow); having markedly sinuous walls. Microhairs present; panicoid-type; 48–98 microns long; 9–11.4 microns wide at the septum. Microhair total length/width at septum 7.4–10.2. Microhair apical cells 24–48 microns long. Microhair apical cell/total length ratio 0.4–0.52. Stomata common; 40–42 microns long. Subsidiaries triangular. Guard-cells overlapping to flush with the interstomatals. Intercostal short-cells common; in cork/silica-cell pairs; silicified. Costal short-cells conspicuously in long rows, or predominantly paired, or neither distinctly grouped into long rows nor predominantly paired. Costal silica bodies ‘panicoid-type’ (mostly), or crescentic, or saddle shaped (rarely); when panicoid, cross shaped to dumb-bell shaped.

Transverse section of leaf blade, physiology. C4. The anatomical organization conventional, or unconventional. Organization of PCR tissue when unconventional, Arundinella type. XyMS–. PCR sheath outlines uneven. PCR sheath extensions absent. Mesophyll with non-radiate chlorenchyma; exhibiting ‘circular cells’, or without ‘circular cells’. Leaf blade with distinct, prominent adaxial ribs, or adaxially flat; with the ribs more or less constant in size. Midrib conspicuous; having a conventional arc of bundles; with colourless mesophyll adaxially, or without colourless mesophyll adaxially. Bulliforms present in discrete, regular adaxial groups; in simple fans. Many of the smallest vascular bundles unaccompanied by sclerenchyma. Combined sclerenchyma girders present; forming ‘figures’, or nowhere forming ‘figures’. Sclerenchyma all associated with vascular bundles.

Phytochemistry. Leaves without flavonoid sulphates (1 species).

Cytology. 2n = 20.

Taxonomy. Panicoideae; Panicodae; Arundinelleae.

Distribution, ecology, phytogeography. 30 species; eastern Asia, Northeast Australia, Pacific. Mesophytic. Light woodland and moist rocky slopes.

Paleotropical and Australian. Indomalesian and Polynesian. Indian, Indo-Chinese, Malesian, and Papuan. Hawaiian and Fijian. North and East Australian. Tropical North and East Australian.

References, etc. Morphological/taxonomic: Gould 1973. Leaf anatomical: Metcalfe 1960; this project.

Illustrations. • Abaxial epidermis of leaf blade. Garnotia stricta. • Leaf blade transverse section. Garnotia stricta. Isolated PCR cells.


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