Grass Genera of the World

L. Watson and M. J. Dallwitz


Yushania Keng

Sometimes referred to Sinarundinaria

Habit, vegetative morphology. Perennial; rhizomatous. The flowering culms leafy. Culms 100–400 cm high; woody and persistent; to 2 cm in diameter; branched above. Primary branches/mid-culm node 3. Culm sheaths persistent. Culm internodes hollow. Pluricaespitose. Rhizomes metamorph type II. Plants unarmed. Leaves not basally aggregated; auricles inconspicuous; with auricular setae (short brown bristles). Leaf blades lanceolate; broad, or narrow; 5–13 mm wide (4–18 cm long); pseudopetiolate; cross veined; disarticulating from the sheaths; rolled in bud; ligule present. Contra-ligule present.

Reproductive organization. Plants bisexual, with bisexual spikelets; with hermaphrodite florets. Not viviparous.

Inflorescence. Inflorescence paniculate (with few spikelets per cluster); spatheate; a complex of ‘partial inflorescences’ and intervening foliar organs. Spikelet-bearing axes spikelike, or paniculate; persistent. Spikelets not secund; pedicellate.

Female-fertile spikelets. Spikelets compressed laterally; disarticulating above the glumes; disarticulating between the florets. Rachilla prolonged beyond the uppermost female-fertile floret; hairy (at the swollen tips of the joints); the rachilla extension with incomplete florets. Hairy callus absent.

Glumes two; shorter than the adjacent lemmas; pointed; awnless (acute to acuminate-tipped); carinate; 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 2–7. Lemmas similar in texture to the glumes; not becoming indurated; entire; pointed; mucronate to awned. Awns 1; median; apical; non-geniculate; much shorter than the body of the lemma. Lemmas carinate; 7 nerved, or 9 nerved. Palea present; relatively long; apically notched (acutely bifid); not indurated; several nerved (2 between the keels, 2 between each keel and the margin); 2-keeled. Lodicules present; 3; joined; membranous; ciliate; not toothed; heavily vascularized. Stamens 3. Anthers not penicillate; without an apically prolonged connective. Ovary glabrous; without a conspicuous apical appendage. Styles fused. Stigmas 2.

Fruit, embryo and seedling. Fruit longitudinally grooved; compressed dorsiventrally. Hilum long-linear. Embryo small.

Taxonomy. Bambusoideae; Bambusodae; Bambuseae.

Distribution, ecology, phytogeography. 1 species; China including Taiwan.

Paleotropical. Indomalesian. Indo-Chinese and Malesian.

Special comments. See Clayton and Renvoize (1986) and Soderstrom and Ellis (1987) for very different generic interpretations of species in this circle of affinity: there are no available generic descriptions adequate for the present purpose. 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