Kampochloa W. Clayton
Habit, vegetative morphology. Perennial; densely caespitose. Culms 15–30 cm high; herbaceous; unbranched above. Plants unarmed. Leaves mostly basal; non-auriculate. Leaf blades narrow; 1–3 mm wide (and 3–5 cm long); without abaxial multicellular glands; without cross venation; persistent; hyaline; 1 mm long.
Reproductive organization. Plants bisexual, with bisexual spikelets; with hermaphrodite florets.
Inflorescence. Inflorescence a single raceme (with very short pedicels); the raceme curved, 1–2.4 cm long. Inflorescence axes not ending in spikelets (in that the rachis tip appears to be a naked point). Inflorescence not comprising ‘partial inflorescences’ and foliar organs. Spikelet-bearing axes persistent. Spikelets unaccompanied by bractiform involucres, not associated with setiform vestigial branches; secund; biseriate; shortly pedicellate.
Female-fertile spikelets. Spikelets 3.5 mm long; compressed laterally; disarticulating above the glumes (?). Rachilla prolonged beyond the uppermost female-fertile floret; hairless; the rachilla extension with incomplete florets. Hairy callus present.
Glumes two; very unequal; shorter than the adjacent lemmas; free; awned (the G1 with 1 mm subule from a sinus, the G2 also incised, but with a 2.7 mm dorsal awn); non-carinate; very dissimilar (the G2 green, puberulent, its longer awn from low on the back). Lower glume 1 nerved. Spikelets with incomplete florets. The incomplete florets distal to the female-fertile florets. The distal incomplete florets clearly specialised and modified in form (the second floret male or sterile, succeeded distally by several florets represented by a bunch of vestigial lemmas in the form of hyaline scales and long awns). Spikelets without proximal incomplete florets.
Female-fertile florets 1. Lemmas less firm than the glumes to similar in texture to the glumes (hyaline); not becoming indurated; incised; not deeply cleft; awned. Awns 1; median; from a sinus; non-geniculate; hairless; much shorter than the body of the lemma (very short, scarcely more than a mucro). Lemmas hairy; carinate (long-ciliate along the nerves); 3 nerved. Palea present; relatively long; apically notched; awnless, without apical setae (glabrous); not indurated (hyaline); 2-nerved; 2-keeled. Lodicules present; 2; free; fleshy; glabrous. Stamens 3. Anthers not penicillate; without an apically prolonged connective. Ovary glabrous. Styles free to their bases. Stigmas 2.
Abaxial leaf blade epidermis. Costal/intercostal zonation conspicuous. Papillae absent. Mid-intercostal long-cells rectangular; having markedly sinuous walls. Microhairs present; more or less spherical; ostensibly one-celled, or clearly two-celled; chloridoid-type (the basal cell often sunken). Microhair apical cell wall of similar thickness/rigidity to that of the basal cell. Microhairs 12–15 microns long. Microhair basal cells 4–5 microns long. Microhairs 6–8.4 microns wide at the septum. Microhair total length/width at septum 1.8–2.3. Microhair apical cell/total length ratio 0.6–1. Stomata common; 25.5–31.5 microns long. Subsidiaries obscured by overlaps from the adjoining cells. Guard-cells overlapped by the interstomatals (in some files), or overlapping to flush with the interstomatals. Intercostal short-cells common (in some files); not paired (solitary); not silicified. Intercostal silica bodies absent. Costal short-cells conspicuously in long rows. Costal silica bodies present in alternate cell files of the costal zones; ‘panicoid-type’; mostly butterfly shaped and dumb-bell shaped.
Transverse section of leaf blade, physiology. Lamina mid-zone in transverse section open.
C4; XyMS+. PCR sheaths of the primary vascular bundles interrupted; interrupted abaxially only. PCR sheath extensions absent. Mesophyll traversed by columns of colourless mesophyll cells. Leaf blade ‘nodular’ in section to adaxially flat. Midrib not readily distinguishable; with one bundle only. Bulliforms present in discrete, regular adaxial groups; associated with colourless mesophyll cells to form deeply-penetrating fans (these linking with the traversing colourless cell columns). All the vascular bundles accompanied by sclerenchyma. Combined sclerenchyma girders present (with all the bundles); forming ‘figures’ (all the bundles with I’s or anchors). Sclerenchyma all associated with vascular bundles. The lamina margins without fibres.
Taxonomy. Chloridoideae; main chloridoid assemblage.
Distribution, ecology, phytogeography. 1 species; Angola and Zambia.
Paleotropical. African. Sudano-Angolan. South Tropical African.
References, etc. Leaf anatomical: this project.
Special comments. Fruit data wanting.
Cite this publication as: Watson, L., and Dallwitz, M. J. (1992 onwards). ‘Grass Genera of the World: Descriptions, Illustrations, Identification, and Information Retrieval; including Synonyms, Morphology, Anatomy, Physiology, Phytochemistry, Cytology, Classification, Pathogens, World and Local Distribution, and References.’ http://biodiversity.uno.edu/delta/. Version: 18th August 1999. Dallwitz (1980), Dallwitz, Paine and Zurcher (1993 onwards, 1998), and Watson and Dallwitz (1994), and Watson, Dallwitz, and Johnston (1986) should also be cited (see References).