keys to the vascular plants of east texas - Botanical Research ...

834 POACEAE/ARUNDINARIA
Arthraxon hispidus (Thunb.) Makino, (hairy, bristly), SMALL CARP GRASS, JOINT-HEAD. Low annual;
culms to 80(–100) cm long (rarely longer), creeping and rooting at lower nodes, glabrous;
leaf blades lanceolate to ovate, 4–15(–20) mm wide, cordate-clasping; leaf sheaths hispid; ligule
ciliate, ca. 1–3 mm long; racemes ca. 2–7 cm long, spike-like, usually 2–11(–15) in a digitate cluster;
spikelets sessile, perfect, solitary (or in pairs—if pedicellate spikelet present, this sterile or
reduced to a pedicel); disarticulation so that sessile spikelet falls with associated pedicel (if
present) and section of the inflorescence branch; sessile spikelets 2–5 mm long, with 2 florets;
glumes 2, equal, coarser in texture than membranous lemmas; lower floret sterile, awnless; upper
(fertile) lemma awnless or with an awn to 7(–10) mm long, the awn attached anywhere
from near the midpoint to the base of the midvein; palea absent. Moist areas, ditches, open
places; Cass Co. (Brown & Schultz 1991—the first collection reported for TX); e U.S. from NY s to
FL w to KS and TX; first collected in the U.S. in PA in 1877 (Kiger 1971). Fall. Native of Asia. [A.
ciliaris P. Beauv., A. cryptatherus var. ciliaris (P. Beauv.) Koidz., A. hispidus subsp. ciliaris (P.
Beauv.) Masam. & Yanagih.] According to Thieret (2003c), plants in the U.S. belong to var.
hispidus, “the most widespread and variable of the four varieties.” This species is used medicinally
in China, and it is the source of a yellow dye (Mabberley 1997). I
ARUNDINARIA Michx. CANE
AA C3 n temperate genus of ca. 50 species (Tucker 1988; Watson & Dallwitz 1992) of BAMBOOS
ranging from n India to China and Japan, with only 1 species native to the New World—A.
gigantea, endemic to the se U.S. However, there is considerable disagreement over which Asian
species should be included (Clark ined.), and therefore uncertainty in the number of species in
the genus. Some species are used for fishing rods, umbrella shafts, and furniture, while others
are cultivated as ornamentals or used in bonsai (Watson & Dallwitz 1992). (Latin: arundo, a
reed) (subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae)
REFERENCES: McClure 1963, 1973; Haubrich 1980; Tucker 1988; Platt & Brantley 1997; Judziewicz
et al. 1999; Grass Phylogeny Working Group 2000; Clark ined.
Arundinaria gigantea (Walter) Muhl., (gigantic), GIANT CANE, SOUTHERN CANE, SWITCH CANE,
BAMBOO. Much-branched, woody, evergreen perennial (0.5–)2–5(–8) m or more tall from a usually
solid rhizome; culms rounded, to ca. 3 cm in diam., the upper nodes often puberulent;
branches 3–6 per node; leaves variable, the lower often reduced; ligule a firm membrane 1.5 mm
or less long; leaf blades abruptly narrowed to a joint-like connection to the leaf sheaths; upper
leaf blades usually 15–25(–30) cm long, 2–4(–5.5) cm wide; inflorescences racemose or narrowly
paniculate; spikelets 1–few, large, 4–7(–8) cm long, ca. 8 mm broad, with 6–12(–13) florets,
greenish or brownish; lemmas (10–)15–25 mm long, usually with pubescence. Moist woods or
low areas, can form dense, nearly monocultural stands known as canebrakes (previously sometimes
spelled canebreaks); Pineywoods and Post Oak Savannah w to Robertson Co. (Turner et al.
2003) and to at least Lamar Co. (BRIT) in Red River drainage; Turner et al. (2003) also mapped a
Grayson Co. location even further w in Red River drainage; also n Gulf Prairies and Marshes;
Hatch (2002) also cited the Edwards Plateau and Trans-Pecos; e U.S. from OH to FL w to KS and
TX. Mostly Apr–May. This is the only native bamboo species in TX. It was used by Native
Americans and others for such things as construction material, baskets, mats, pipestems, weapons,
fishing poles, and food (cooked young shoots and fruits) (Platt & Brantley 1997;
Yatskievych 1999). According to Yatskievych (1999), “The species is propagated mostly by rhizome
fragments that are transported by water. … Reports of the species’ life cycle are conflicting,
ranging from an annual flowering cycle to flowering every 30–40 years, and from mortality of
the plant following flowering, to none of the die-off that is typical of most bamboos. Plants cultivated
in St. Louis County [MO] flowered annually from 1993 to 1996 with no evidence of decline
of existing stems.” Gould (1975b), however, reported that the plants flower only at intervals
of 4–6 years. Canebrakes were once extensive in alluvial floodplains, were a dominant