BAMBOOS OF INDI A

Pseudoxytenanthera
Pseudoxytenanthera monadelpha
Pseudoxytenanthera monadelpha (Thw.) Soderstrom and Ellis, Smithson. Contrib. Bot. 72: 52. 1988; Tewari,
Monogr. bamboo 124.1992. (Fig. 72).
Dendrocalamus monadelphus Thw., Enum. Pl. Zeyl. 376. 1864; Oxytenanthera thwaitesii Munro, Trans. Linn. Soc.
London 26: 129. 1868; Gamble, Ann. Roy. Bot. Gard. Calcutta 7: 64. 1896 and in Hook f., Fl. Brit. India 7: 402. 1896;
Camus, Les Bambusees 147. 1913; Oxytenanthera monadelpha (Thw.) Alst. in Trim., Handb. Fl. Ceylon (Suppl.) 342.
1931; Varmah and Bahadur, Indian For. Rec. (n.s.) Bot. 6(1): 4. 1980.
DESCRIPTION
A small gregarious, straggling or subscandent, reed-like bamboo. Culms 3-3.5 m high, ca.2.5 cm diameter, smooth,
usually ending in a curved whip with small branchlets in verticils and very small leaves, branched from the base; leaf
and flower bearing branches on the same culm; internodes 30-45 cm long, rough, hairy when young. Culm-sheaths
ca.15 cm long and 7.9 cm broad, truncate at the mouth, ciliate on the margins, those of thicker shoots appressed hairy
on the back, younger and thinner shoots nearly glabrous; imperfect blade 7.5-12.5 cm long and 2.5 cm broad ovateacuminate,
rounded at the base and decurrent; auricles large, rounded, falcate, with stiff curved bristles. Leaves very
variable in size, lanceolate, acuminate,
ending in a sharp twisted setaceous
point; petiole small, glabrous above,
sparsely hairy beneath, margins
scabrous; sheaths striate, keeled, often
very hirsute, ligule variable. Inflorescence
a large leafy panicle with spicate
branchlets bearing heads of more or less
closely packed spikelets, bracts small,
ovate, rachis smooth; spikelets often
in pairs, usually 1-flowered; empty
glumes 2-3, ovate, mucronate,
sometimes ciliate on edges; flowering
glume ovate-acute, mucronate, palea
line 72
➤
Fig. 72. P. monadelpha. A - leafy
branch; B - a portion of flowering
branch; C - spikelet; D - empty
glumes; E - palea with staminal tube
of outer flower; F & G - flowering
glumes; H - palea with stamens and
pistil.
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