Hickelia A. Camus
Excluding Pseudocoix
Habit, vegetative morphology. Perennial. The flowering culms leafy. Culms woody and persistent (slender); scandent; branched above. Leaves not basally aggregated; without auricular setae. Leaf blades lanceolate (acuminate); broad; to 10–15 mm wide (to 10 cm long); rounded at the base; pseudopetiolate; disarticulating from the sheaths (presumably); ligule present; small.
Reproductive organization. Plants bisexual, with bisexual spikelets; with hermaphrodite florets.
Inflorescence. Inflorescence indeterminate; without pseudospikelets; with stellate spikelet clusters around the nodes. Spikelet-bearing axes capitate; clustered (the dense capitula aggregated); persistent.
Female-fertile spikelets. Spikelets 10–18 mm long; becoming ventricose; disarticulating above the glumes (the glumes persistent). Rachilla prolonged beyond the uppermost female-fertile floret.
Glumes several (3–5); relatively large; hairy (long-pilose); pointed; awnless; very dissimilar (the lower short and membranous, the two upper crustaceous and like the lemma). Spikelets with incomplete florets. The incomplete florets proximal to the female-fertile florets. Spikelets with proximal incomplete florets. The proximal incomplete florets 2. The proximal lemmas awnless; more or less equalling the female-fertile lemmas to decidedly exceeding the female-fertile lemmas; similar in texture to the female-fertile lemmas; becoming indurated (shining, ventricose).
Female-fertile florets 1. Lemmas broad, convolute, ovate; decidedly firmer than the glumes; becoming indurated (and inflated); entire; awnless; non-carinate; many-nerved. Palea present; relatively long; palea apically pilose; indurated (shining); several nerved (16–20 nerves); keel-less. Lodicules present (‘acute, small’). Stamens 6. Ovary hairy; with a conspicuous apical appendage. The appendage broadly conical, fleshy. Stigmas 3.
Fruit, embryo and seedling. Fruit medium sized (9 mm long); longitudinally grooved. Pericarp thin (becoming dilated at the base of the style).
Taxonomy. Bambusoideae; Bambusodae; Bambuseae.
Distribution, ecology, phytogeography. 1 species; Madagascar. Glycophytic. Forest.
Paleotropical. Madagascan.
Special comments. 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).