Chikusichloa Koidz.
Habit, vegetative morphology. Culms 70–175 cm high; herbaceous; unbranched above. Leaves not basally aggregated. Leaf blades linear to lanceolate (acuminate); broad, or narrow; 7–15 mm wide (30–50 cm long); truncate; 2–3 mm long.
Reproductive organization. Plants bisexual, with bisexual spikelets; with hermaphrodite florets. The spikelets all alike in sexuality. Plants exposed-cleistogamous, or chasmogamous (?).
Inflorescence. Inflorescence paniculate; open (about 40 cm long, 15 cm wide); espatheate; not comprising ‘partial inflorescences’ and foliar organs. Spikelet-bearing axes persistent. Spikelets not secund; pedicellate (the pedicels glabrous).
Female-fertile spikelets. Spikelets unconventional (through reduction of the glumes, cf. Oryza); 4–4.5 mm long; slightly compressed dorsiventrally; borne on and falling with the long, slender stipe of the floret, by contrast with Leersia. Rachilla terminated by a female-fertile floret.
Glumes absent (‘obsolete’). Spikelets with female-fertile florets only; without proximal incomplete florets.
Female-fertile florets 1. Lemmas lanceolate, acute to awned; not becoming indurated (membranous or papery); entire; pointed; awnless, or awned. Awns when present, 1; median; apical (by attenuation of the lemma); non-geniculate; about 4.5 mm long. Lemmas hairy, or hairless; strongly 5–7 nerved. Palea present; relatively long; entire (acute); awnless, without apical setae; not indurated (membranous); 2-nerved, or several nerved (sometimes 3); one-keeled. Lodicules present; 2. Stamens 1. Anthers without an apically prolonged connective. Ovary glabrous. Stigmas 2.
Fruit, embryo and seedling. Fruit small (2 mm long). Hilum short. Pericarp very thin.
Abaxial leaf blade epidermis. Costal/intercostal zonation conspicuous. Papillae absent. Long-cells similar in shape costally and intercostally to markedly different in shape costally and intercostally (the costals tending to be narrower); of similar wall thickness costally and intercostally (the walls of medium thickness). Mid-intercostal long-cells rectangular; having markedly sinuous walls (the sinuosity fairly regular). Microhairs present; elongated; clearly two-celled; panicoid-type. Stomata common. Subsidiaries non-papillate; fairly high dome-shaped to triangular. Guard-cells overlapping to flush with the interstomatals. Intercostal short-cells common; in cork/silica-cell pairs. With a few intercostal prickles. Costal short-cells conspicuously in long rows. Costal silica bodies present and well developed; ‘panicoid-type’; dumb-bell shaped (mainly), or butterfly shaped (a few).
Transverse section of leaf blade, physiology. C3; XyMS+. Mesophyll with arm cells; with fusoids. The fusoids external to the PBS. Leaf blade ‘nodular’ in section, or adaxially flat. Midrib conspicuous; having complex vascularization (a large bundle abaxially in the keel, and a small adaxial one superposed, the pair embedded in either colourless tissue or large-celled, thin-walled sclerenchyma). Bulliforms present in discrete, regular adaxial groups; in simple fans (of large cells, between adjoining vascular bundles). All the vascular bundles accompanied by sclerenchyma. Combined sclerenchyma girders present (with all the bundles); forming ‘figures’ (I’s). Sclerenchyma all associated with vascular bundles.
Cytology. Chromosome base number, x = 12. 2n = 24. 2 ploid.
Taxonomy. Bambusoideae; Oryzodae; Oryzeae.
Distribution, ecology, phytogeography. 3 species; China, Riyukyu Is., Japan. Helophytic; shade species. Forests.
Holarctic and Paleotropical. Boreal. Indomalesian. Eastern Asian. Indo-Chinese and Malesian.
References, etc. Morphological/taxonomic: Koidzum 1925. Leaf anatomical: this project.
Special comments. Fruit 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).