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Vines and Climbing Plants of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands

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436<br />

<strong>Vines</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Climbing</strong> <strong>Plants</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>Virgin</strong> Isl<strong>and</strong>s<br />

6. Family POACEAE<br />

Key to <strong>the</strong> genera<br />

1a. Leaves <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> culm different from <strong>the</strong> leaves <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> branches; branches short, whorled in <strong>the</strong> area <strong>of</strong><br />

<strong>the</strong> nodes.........………………………………………………………………….……………..2<br />

1b. Leaves <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> culm similar to those <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> branches; apex <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> leaf sheath lacking setaceous<br />

appendages; branches short or elongate, alternate………………………………………………3<br />

2a. Leaves 7-13 per branch; apex <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> leaf sheath with setose appendages ……1. Arthrostylidium<br />

2b. Leaves 15-40 per branch; apex <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> leaf sheath lacking setose appendages ……..2. Chusquea<br />

3a. Leaf blades 0.2-3.4(4.6) cm wide; glumes not aristate.………………………………3. Lasiacis<br />

3b. Leaf blades 3-11 cm wide; glumes aristate, <strong>the</strong> arista 5-22 mm long ……………….…4. Olyra<br />

1. ARTHROSTYLIDIUM<br />

Herbs, caespitose, perennial, with pachymorphic <strong>and</strong> sympodial rhizomes. Culms cylindrical,<br />

lignified, hollow, elongate, sc<strong>and</strong>ent, with one main branch per node, <strong>the</strong> branches with three to many<br />

branches that are borne from a mound. Leaves <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> culm different from those <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> branches; foliaceous<br />

leaves with internal <strong>and</strong> external ligules; leaf sheath with a prominent or inconspicuous setaceous<br />

appendage. Inflorescences <strong>of</strong> spicate racemes, lacking bracts, <strong>the</strong> rachis straight or flexuous. Spikelets<br />

subsessile, with 2 or more flowers, bisexual; fertile flowers 1 or more numerous, deciduous along with<br />

<strong>the</strong> rachilla when mature; glumes 1 or 2, as long as half <strong>the</strong> length <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> spikelet. About 30 species,<br />

distributed from Mexico to Bolivia <strong>and</strong> in <strong>the</strong> Antilles.<br />

Key to <strong>the</strong> species <strong>of</strong> Arthrostylidium<br />

1a. Leaves <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> branches 0.7-2 mm wide ……………..………..……....……………1. A. farctum<br />

1b. Leaves <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> branches 3-30 mm wide………………………………………………………….2<br />

2a. Foliaceous leaves 6-11 × 1-3 cm; culms markedly scabrous; rachis <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> inflorescence straight<br />

……………………………………………………………………………….2. A. multispicatum<br />

2b. Foliaceous leaves 2.5-6 × 0.3-0.7 cm; culms smooth; rachis <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> mature inflorescence flexuous<br />

………………………………………………………...............…….3. A. sarmentosum<br />

1. Arthrostylidium farctum (Aubl.) Soderstr. &<br />

Lourteig, Phytologia 64: 163. 1987.<br />

Fig. 181. A-C<br />

BASIONYM: Arundo farcta Aubl.<br />

SYNONYM: Arthrostylidium capillifolium Griseb.<br />

<strong>Climbing</strong> bamboo<br />

<strong>Climbing</strong>, small bamboo, attainig 3-5(15) m<br />

in length. Culms smooth, shiny, 1-5 mm in<br />

diameter, cylindrical, flexible, with internodes 5-<br />

20 cm long, <strong>the</strong> nodes with numerous branchlets,<br />

7-15 cm long, grouped in dense whorls. Leaves<br />

<strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> branches linear, 6-15 × 0.7-2 mm,

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