Pseudobromus K. Schum.
Sometimes referred to Festuca
Habit, vegetative morphology. Perennial; caespitose. Culms 40–200 cm high; herbaceous; unbranched above. Culm nodes glabrous. Culm internodes hollow. Leaves not basally aggregated; auriculate (from the base of the blade). Leaf blades linear to linear-lanceolate; broad; 6–15 mm wide (‘to 15 mm wide’); flat, or rolled; not pseudopetiolate; cross veined; persistent; rolled in bud; an unfringed membrane (with lacerate margins); not truncate; 3–8.5 mm long. Contra-ligule absent.
Reproductive organization. Plants bisexual, with bisexual spikelets; with hermaphrodite florets.
Inflorescence. Inflorescence paniculate; open; espatheate; not comprising ‘partial inflorescences’ and foliar organs. Spikelet-bearing axes persistent. Spikelets not secund; pedicellate.
Female-fertile spikelets. Spikelets 8–10 mm long; not noticeably compressed; disarticulating above the glumes; disarticulating between the florets. Rachilla prolonged beyond the uppermost female-fertile floret (even when there is only one floret); hairless (minutely scabrid). Hairy callus present, or absent. Callus short; blunt.
Glumes two; very unequal; shorter than the spikelets; shorter than the adjacent lemmas; hairless; glabrous; pointed (acute or acuminate); awnless; more or less carinate; similar. Lower glume shorter than the lowest lemma; 1–3 nerved. Upper glume 3 nerved. Spikelets with female-fertile florets only, or with incomplete florets. The incomplete florets distal to the female-fertile florets. The distal incomplete florets merely underdeveloped; when present, awned. Spikelets without proximal incomplete florets.
Female-fertile florets 1–2. Lemmas similar in texture to the glumes; not becoming indurated; incised; not deeply cleft (only notched); awned. Awns 1; median; dorsal, or apical; when apical, from near the top; non-geniculate, or geniculate; hairless (scabrid); much longer than the body of the lemma; entered by one vein. Lemmas hairy (with a tuft above the callus), or hairless; non-carinate; without a germination flap; 3–5 nerved. Palea present; relatively long; entire; awnless, without apical setae (glabrous); textured like the lemma; not indurated (membranous); 2-nerved; 2-keeled. Lodicules present; 2; free; membranous; glabrous; toothed, or not toothed; not or scarcely vascularized. Stamens 3. Anthers 3 mm long; not penicillate; without an apically prolonged connective. Ovary hairy. Styles free to their bases. Stigmas 2; white.
Fruit, embryo and seedling. Fruit medium sized (6–7 mm long); longitudinally grooved; compressed dorsiventrally; with hairs confined to a terminal tuft. Hilum long-linear. Embryo small. Endosperm hard; without lipid; containing compound starch grains. Embryo with an epiblast; without a scutellar tail; with a negligible mesocotyl internode. Embryonic leaf margins meeting.
Abaxial leaf blade epidermis. Costal/intercostal zonation conspicuous. Papillae absent. Long-cells markedly different in shape costally and intercostally (costals longer and narrower); of similar wall thickness costally and intercostally. Mid-intercostal long-cells fusiform; having straight or only gently undulating walls. Microhairs absent. Stomata common; 40.5–42–45 microns long. Subsidiaries parallel-sided. Guard-cells overlapped by the interstomatals (sunken). Intercostal short-cells absent or very rare (prickles only). Costal short-cells neither distinctly grouped into long rows nor predominantly paired. Costal silica bodies horizontally-elongated crenate/sinuous, or horizontally-elongated smooth; not sharp-pointed.
Transverse section of leaf blade, physiology. C3; XyMS+. Mesophyll with non-radiate chlorenchyma. Leaf blade ‘nodular’ in section; with the ribs more or less constant in size. Midrib conspicuous; with one bundle only. Bulliforms present in discrete, regular adaxial groups (between the bundles); in simple fans. All the vascular bundles accompanied by sclerenchyma. Combined sclerenchyma girders present. Sclerenchyma all associated with vascular bundles.
Cytology. Chromosome base number, x = 7. 2n = 28.
Taxonomy. Pooideae; Poodae; Poeae.
Distribution, ecology, phytogeography. 3 species; East tropical and South Africa, Madagascar. Mesophytic; shade species; glycophytic. In forests.
Paleotropical and Cape. African. Sudano-Angolan. Sahelo-Sudanian, Somalo-Ethiopian, and South Tropical African.
Economic importance. Important native pasture species: P. engleri, P. sylvaticus.
References, etc. Leaf anatomical: Metcalfe 1960 and this project.
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).