Part 6. JUNCACEAE 1: Rostkovia to Luzula - Species Plantarum ...

JUNCACEAE
5. DISTICHIA
Distichia Nees & Meyen, in F.J.F.Meyen, Observ. Bot. 128 (1843)
Type: Distichia muscoides Nees & Meyen
Goudotia Decne., Ann. Sci. Nat., Bot., Sér. 3, 4: 83 (1845); Distichia Nees & Meyen sect. Goudotia (Decne.)
Benth. & Hook.f., Gen. Pl. 3: 367 (1883). T: Goudotia tolimensis Decne.
Agapatea Steud., Bot. Zeitung (Berlin) 14: 391 (1856), nom.inval.; Agapatea Steud. ex Buchenau, Abh.
Naturwiss. Vereine Bremen 4: 124 (1874), nom. inval.
Perennials with branched suberect rhizomes, glabrous, cushion-forming. Stems ±regularly
forked and covered with persisting leaves which are wilted in proximal part and live in the
most distal part. Leaves regularly densely and strictly distichously inserted along stem, with
a wide sheath clasping the leaf above; blade shorter than or equalling sheath, terete.
Inflorescence reduced to a single lateral subterminal flower. Plants dioecious. Bracteoles
2–4, minute, scarious. Tepals lanceolate, 4–10 mm long. Staminate flower long pedicellate.
Stamens 6, with linear mucronate anthers about 10 times as long as the filaments. Pistillate
flower short pedicellate; ovary on short gynophore; style with 3 filiform papillose stigmas.
Capsule unilocular, lifted on a gynophore at ripening. Seeds many; outer seed-coat loose,
irregularly wrinkled.
Three species confined to the high Andes from Colombia and Ecuador to N Chile and
N Argentina.
1 Leaf apex bluntly acute, without hair-like extension 1. D. muscoides
1: Leaf apex with hair-like extension or long acuminate
2 Leaf blade gradually tapering to the tip; auricles absent 2. D. filamentosa
2: Leaf blade linear, with tip long acuminate; auricles present 3. D. acicularis
1. Distichia muscoides Nees & Meyen, in F.J.F.Meyen, Observ. Bot. 129 (1843)
T: Peru, Puno, Pisacoma, 4500 m, Apr 1831, Meyen s.n.; holo: B, probably destroyed; syn: BR, P, photo QCA.
Goudotia tolimensis Decne., Ann. Sci. Nat., Bot., Sér. 3, 4: 85 (1845); Distichia tolimensis (Decne.) Buchenau,
Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 1: 141 (1880). T: Colombia, Tolima, 4600–5000 m, Feb 1828, J.Goudot s.n.; holo: P; iso:
G, K, P.
Gaimardia boliviana Pax, Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. 5: 225 (1908). T: Bolivia, La Paz, am Fusse des
Murarata Swamps, 5000 m, Oct 1906, O.Buchtien 836; holo: B, probably destroyed; lecto: US, fide H.Balslev,
Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 68: 43 (1996); isolecto: UPS, photo NY.
Agapatea peruviana Steud., in W.Lechler, Berberid. Amer. Austral. 56 (1857), nom.inval. Orig. coll.: Peru,
Agapata, Jul 1854, W.Lechler 1954 (G, GOET, K, M, P, all p.p.).
Illustrations: F.G.P.Buchenau, in H.G.A.Engler, Pflanzenr. (iv.36) 25: 34, fig. 27 (1906) as D. tolimensis;
M.Barros, Darwiniana 10: 290, fig. 2 (1953); H.Balslev, Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 68: 40, fig. 20A-C, 44, fig.
22I-J (1996); H.Balslev, in [The Asahi Shinbun World of Plants; in Japanese] 122: 35 (1996).
Perennials forming dense hard cushions up to several meters in diam. Single plants 5–15 cm
long, with ±regularly forked shoots, covered with shor, strictly distichous persistent
stramineous or rarely dark brown wilted leaves, with only 2 or 3 most distal leaves green and
projecting above the cushion. Leaves 1–2 cm long, inserted 1–2 mm apart; sheaths usually
two thirds of entire leaf length, open, wide, V-shaped in T.S., with narrow and scarious
margins, almost completely clasping the sheath of the leaf above; blade bluntly acute.
Flowers in a subterminal leaf axil. Tepals subequal, 4.5–7.5 mm long. Staminate flowers on
filiform pedicels 1–2 cm long. Stamens 2.0–3.5 mm long; anthers 1.8–3.0 mm long;
filaments c. 0.2–0.3 mm long. Pistillate flowers hidden in the sheath of the supporting leaf,
with only stigmas projecting above the shoot apex; style filiform, exceeding tepals; stigmas
half as long as style. Gynophore elongating at fruit ripening, lifting the capsule slightly
above the cushion. Capsule ellipsoid to ovoid, apically acute to slightly apiculate or obtuse,
5–7 × 2.5–3.5 mm, irregularly dehiscing, yellow-brown, unilocular. Seeds oblong, 1.0–1.5 ×
0.5–1.0 mm, covered by the thick white outer seed-coat. Fig. 1, 5.
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