Gaudiniopsis (Boiss.) Eig
Sometimes referred to Ventenata
Habit, vegetative morphology. Annual; erect or ascending. Culms 10–50 cm high; herbaceous. Leaves non-auriculate. Leaf blades linear; 1–3.5 mm wide; often rolled (convolute); without cross venation; an unfringed membrane; not truncate (lacerate); 3–6 mm long.
Reproductive organization. Plants bisexual, with bisexual spikelets; with hermaphrodite florets.
Inflorescence. Inflorescence paniculate; contracted (the ends of the branches minutely hispidulous); spicate; espatheate; not comprising ‘partial inflorescences’ and foliar organs. Spikelet-bearing axes persistent. Spikelets not secund; pedicellate.
Female-fertile spikelets. Spikelets 9–13 mm long; compressed laterally; disarticulating above the glumes; disarticulating between the florets. Rachilla prolonged beyond the uppermost female-fertile floret. Hairy callus present, or absent.
Glumes two; very unequal; shorter than the spikelets; shorter than the adjacent lemmas; free; pointed (acute); awnless; carinate, or non-carinate; similar (lanceolate). Lower glume 3 nerved. Upper glume 3–5 nerved. Spikelets with female-fertile florets only, or 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 similar in texture to the glumes (papery); not becoming indurated; entire, or incised; when entire, pointed; awned (apart from the lowest, which is acute and awnless). Awns 1; median; dorsal; from well down the back; geniculate; much longer than the body of the lemma (about 10 mm long); entered by one vein. Lemmas hairy, or hairless; non-carinate; without a germination flap; 5 nerved. Palea present; conspicuous but relatively short (about two thirds the lemma length); 2-nerved; 2-keeled. Lodicules present; 2; free; membranous; glabrous; toothed, or not toothed; not or scarcely vascularized. Stamens 3. Ovary glabrous. Styles free to their bases. Stigmas 2.
Fruit, embryo and seedling. Fruit free from both lemma and palea; small (2 mm long); compressed dorsiventrally. Hilum short. Embryo small. Endosperm liquid in the mature fruit.
Abaxial leaf blade epidermis. Costal/intercostal zonation conspicuous. Papillae absent. Long-cells similar in shape costally and intercostally; of similar wall thickness costally and intercostally. Mid-intercostal long-cells rectangular; having markedly sinuous walls (pitted and rather thick). Microhairs absent. Stomata common; 37.5–52 microns long. Subsidiaries parallel-sided. Guard-cells mostly only slightly overlapped by the interstomatals. Intercostal short-cells absent or very rare. Crown cells present. Costal short-cells predominantly paired. Costal silica bodies horizontally-elongated crenate/sinuous to horizontally-elongated smooth (few, shortish), or rounded (mainly).
Transverse section of leaf blade, physiology. C3; XyMS+.
Cytology. Chromosomes ‘large’.
Taxonomy. Pooideae; Poodae; Aveneae.
Distribution, ecology, phytogeography. 1 species; Asia Minor.
Holarctic. Boreal and Tethyan. Euro-Siberian. Mediterranean and Irano-Turanian. European.
References, etc. Leaf anatomical: this project.
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).