Skip to main content

Elegant bamboo (Temochloa elegans) and liliana bamboo (Temochloa liliana) strengthen the genus

Elegant bamboo (Temochloa elegans) and liliana bamboo (Temochloa liliana) strengthen the genus

NEWS - Elegant bamboo (Temochloa elegans) and elegant bare bamboo (Temochloa elegans var. glabra) are new members and strengthen the genus that previously only had liliana bamboo (Temochloa liliana S. Dransf, 2000). The new taxa were found in limestone habitats in southwest Guangxi, China, and northeast Vietnam.

Researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Guangzhou, Guiyang Vocational and Technical College in Guiyang and Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology in Hanoi described new species and varieties that strengthen the genus Temochloa into two species with two varieties.

Neomicrocalamus Keng f. and Temochloa S. Dransf. are two genera of climbing bamboos (Poaceae, Bambusoideae, Bambuseae) that are only distributed in limestone areas that are phylogenetically sister groups. The morphology has several similar characters, such as short-necked pachymorph rhizomes, climbing stems and ambiguous inflorescence structures.

Neomicrocalamus has semelauctant ‘inflorescences’, but at the same time, the basic unit of the inflorescence is a pseudospikelet because there are basal prophylls and bracts. This description is very confusing because the semelauctant and iterauctant conditions are very contrasting.

The researchers analyzed newly collected specimens from China and Vietnam to re-examine the ‘inflorescence’ structure of Neomicrocalamus and Temochloa. The new bamboo is more similar to Temochloa and grows at very low elevations (50-250 meters), while Neomicrocalamus is only found above 1000 meters.

Phylogenetic evidence suggests that the new bamboo originated from introgressive hybridization between Temochloa liliana S. Dransf. and Neomicrocalamus prainii. The newly discovered bamboo inherited 80.7% of its genome from the genetically more closely related T. liliana.

T. elegans has short-necked pachymorph rhizomes, creeping stems, solitary and nearly circular primary branchlets, branchial appendages with numerous short branches and nearly equal to the dominant central branch, occasionally repeating and approaching the size of the stem, pseudospikelets with 2-4 fertile florets, 6 stamens with notched anther tips, 3 stigmas and a caryopsis.

The species resembles T. liliana, but differs in solid (vs. hollow) stem segments, hairy (vs. glabrous) profiles on pseudospikelets, paleae longer (vs. as long) than lemmas, and palea tips that are pointed to slightly blunt (vs. 2-lobed). The species is found in southwestern Guangxi, China, and northeastern Vietnam at elevations of 210 meters.

T. elegans is found in only two localities and is not very common there so the number of mature clumps is limited. The Vietnamese population is well protected in Nature Reserves, while the Chinese population is scattered along highways and not in any protected areas. This species should be categorized as Near Threatened (NT).

T. elegans var. glabra can be distinguished from T. elegans var. elegans by its glabrous leaf sheaths and glabrous leaf ligules. The specific epithet refers to the glabrous sheaths and ligules. This taxon is found in limestone areas in northeastern Vietnam at elevations of 140-210 meters.

To date, T. elegans var. glabra is only known from one site in Vietnam and fewer than 10 clumps have been found. Inadequate field surveys have led researchers to propose a status in the category of Data Deficient (DD).

Original research

Cai Z-Y, Zhang Y-Y, Tong Y-H, Vu TC, Xia N-H (2024) Temochloa (Poaceae, Bambusoideae), a newly-recorded bamboo genus for China and Vietnam, with new taxa and a re-interpretation of flowering structures. PhytoKeys 246: 229-236, DOI:10.3897/phytokeys.246.129035
Labels:

Popular Posts

Laniger bat tick (Ixodes lanigeri), new hard tick species (Ixodidae) from mouse-eared bats (Myotis) in Vietnam

NEWS - Researchers have identified Ixodes ticks from Vietnam based on morphological and molecular characteristics of females, nymphs and larvae as a new species, laniger bat tick ( Ixodes lanigeri ), which like other members of the Ixodes ariadnae complex appears to show a preference for vesper bats as a typical host. Historically, for more than a century and a half, only one species has been called the “long-legged bat tick”: Ixodes vespertilionis Koch. However, over the past decade, it has been molecularly recognized that long-legged ixodid ticks associated with bats may represent at least six species. Host associations and geographic separation may explain the evolutionary divergence of the new species from its closest living relative Murina hilgendorfi Peters in East Asia, Japan, as no Myotis or Murina spp. have overlapping distributions between Vietnam and the Japanese mainland. On the other hand, assuming that I. lanigeri may be present in other myotine bats and knowing that s...
Read more

Kemadih (Schultesianthus coriaceus)

Kemadih ( Schultesianthus coriaceus ) is a species of plant in the Solanaceae family. It grows as a climber and covers host trees. It is a perennial, multi-branched, hardwood plant with hard, brown bark and dark green young bark. S. coriaceus has thick leaves, 15 cm long and 8 cm wide. A central vein is linear, with a pointed tip and base. The upper surface is dark green and the lower surface is bright green. The petiole is 3 cm long. The flowers are fan-shaped with 5 inflorescences. The base is narrow, whitish-yellow or bright green, and 8 cm wide. Four inflorescences with brownish-white tips and one inflorescence with a green tip grow in the center. The fruit is green, 3.5 cm long, and the stalk is 2 cm long. Kingdom: Plantae Phylum: Tracheophyta Subphylum: Angiospermae Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Solanales Family: Solanaceae Subfamily: Solanoideae Tribe: Solandreae Genus: Schultesianthus Species: Schultesianthus coriaceus
Read more

Giant golden spider (Nephila pilipes)

Kemlanding or giant golden orbweaver ( Nephila pilipes ) is an animal species in the Araneidae, a web spider with a vertical and asymmetrical mesh, sexually dimorphic with elongated females up to 20 cm in size and has a large investment in egg production and web construction, whereas males only a few millimeters. N. pilipes displays female gigantism and male dwarfism. Females usually have a body size of 30-50 mm, the cephalothorax is 15 mm long and 10 mm wide. The stomach is 30 mm long, 15 mm wide and is mostly tawny with yellow stripes. The female has black or brown, covered in thick hairs. The two rows of eyes stick out towards the back. Plastron is mostly black and brown. The legs are very long, stick-shaped with several joints, black and yellow, lacking of hairs. Males are 5-6.5 mm in size, cephalothorax is 2.5 mm long and 2 mm wide. The stomach is 4 mm long and 1.5 mm wide. The front eye is bigger than the back eye. The legs are light brown with some hair. Yellow carapace with ...
Read more