Hitchcockella A. Camus
Named for A.S. Hitchcock, American agrostologist.
Habit, vegetative morphology. Perennial (shrub). The flowering culms leafy. Culms woody and persistent (slender); not scandent (?); branched above (the branches in fascicles, more or less curved). Primary branches/mid-culm node several. Rhizomes leptomorph. Leaves not basally aggregated. Leaf blades lanceolate to elliptic (acuminate and mucronate); narrow; rounded at the base; pseudopetiolate (one supposes); without cross venation (apparently); disarticulating from the sheaths; ligule present (‘nearly none’).
Reproductive organization. Plants bisexual, with bisexual spikelets; with hermaphrodite florets.
Inflorescence. Inflorescence of 1–3 spikelets at the apices of branchlets and rather hidden by leaves; spatheate; a complex of ‘partial inflorescences’ and intervening foliar organs (presumably). Spikelet-bearing axes presumably very much reduced. Spikelets solitary; not secund; not in distinct ‘long-and-short’ combinations.
Female-fertile spikelets. Spikelets 12 mm long; strongly compressed laterally; disarticulating above the glumes (the assumed proximal lemma(s) falling with the floret); not disarticulating between the florets. Rachilla terminated by a female-fertile floret (?).
Glumes two, or several (?-with abundant scope for confusing glumes and proximal sterile lemmas, at least in the available description); shorter than the adjacent lemmas; (G2) hairy; pointed; carinate; similar (lanceolate, acuminate, subulate). Lower glume 7 nerved. Upper glume 7–9 nerved. Spikelets with incomplete florets (probably?). The incomplete florets (if to be interpreted as such) proximal to the female-fertile florets. Spikelets with proximal incomplete florets (?). The proximal incomplete florets 1; sterile. The proximal lemmas lemma-like - subulate, compressed, keeled, hairy; 13 nerved; exceeded by the female-fertile lemmas; similar in texture to the female-fertile lemmas.
Female-fertile florets 1. Lemmas acuminate; incised (obscurely bidenticulate); awnless; hairy (ciliate); carinate. Palea present. Stamens 6. Ovary glabrous (rostrate); without a conspicuous apical appendage. Styles fused (into one long style). Stigmas 2.
Taxonomy. Bambusoideae; Bambusodae; Bambuseae.
Distribution, ecology, phytogeography. 1 species; Madagascar.
Paleotropical. Madagascan.
References, etc. Morphological/taxonomic: Camus 1925a.
Special comments. From the original, very inadequate description. 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).