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

Popular Posts

Black potato (Coleus rotundifolius)

Black potato ( Coleus rotundifolius ) is a species of plant in Lamiaceae, herbaceous, fibrous roots and tubers, erect and slightly creeping stems, quadrangular, thick, and slightly odorous. Single leaves, thick, membranous, opposite and alternate. Leaves are oval, dark green and shiny on the upper side, bright green on the lower side. Up to 5 cm long, up to 4 cm wide, slightly hairy and pinnate leaf veins. Leaf stalks up to 4 cm long. Small, purple flowers. Star-shaped petals, lip-shaped crown, dark to light purple with a slightly curved tube shape. Flowering from February-August. Small tubers, brown and white flesh and tuber length 2-4 cm. Kingdom: Plantae Phylum: Tracheophyta Subphylum: Angiospermae Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Lamiales Family: Lamiaceae Subfamily: Nepetoideae Tribe: Ocimeae Subtribe: Plectranthinae Genus: Coleus Species: Coleus rotundifolius

Wild durian (Cullenia exarillata)

Wild durian ( Cullenia exarillata ) is a species of plant in the Malvaceae, a tall tree with smooth, greyish-white bark, peeling on older trees, a straight trunk, horizontal branches and often with a series of knob-like tubercles for flower and fruit attachment. C. exarillata has young branches and the underside of the leaves is covered with golden brown peltate or shield-like scales. The leaves are single, alternate, glabrous, glossy green on the upper side and covered with silvery or orange peltate scales on the underside. Hermaphroditic flowers are tubular and also covered with golden brown scales, 4-5 cm long and cream or reddish brown in color. Flowers have no petals, formed of tubular bracteoles and tubular calyxes, 5-lobed. Fruit is round, 10-13 cm in diameter, covered with thorns and clustered along the branches. Many seeds, reddish brown, 4-5 cm long and 2-3 cm wide. The seeds are enclosed by a fleshy, whitish aril. The fruit splits open when ripe and dries to release the s...

Thomas Sutikna lives with Homo floresiensis

BLOG - On October 28, 2004, a paper was published in Nature describing the dwarf hominin we know today as Homo floresiensis that has shocked the world. The report changed the geographical landscape of early humans that previously stated that the Pleistocene Asia was only represented by two species, Homo erectus and Homo sapiens . The report titled "A new small-bodied hominin from the Late Pleistocene of Flores, Indonesia" written by Peter Brown and Mike J. Morwood from the University of New England with Thomas Sutikna, Raden Pandji Soejono, Jatmiko, E. Wahyu Saptomo and Rokus Awe Due from the National Archaeology Research Institute (ARKENAS), Indonesia, presents more diversity in the genus Homo. “Immediately, my fever vanished. I couldn’t sleep well that night. I couldn’t wait for sunrise. In the early morning we went to the site, and when we arrived in the cave, I didn’t say a thing because both my mind and heart couldn’t handle this incredible moment. I just went down...