Pseudodanthonia Bor & C.E. Hubb.
Excluding Sinochasea
Habit, vegetative morphology. Perennial; caespitose. Culms herbaceous; unbranched above. Young shoots intravaginal. Leaves non-auriculate. Leaf blades narrow; setaceous; without cross venation; an unfringed membrane; not truncate; 7 mm long.
Reproductive organization. Plants bisexual, with bisexual spikelets; with hermaphrodite florets.
Inflorescence. Inflorescence few spikeleted, or many spikeleted; a single raceme, or paniculate; open; espatheate; not comprising ‘partial inflorescences’ and foliar organs. Spikelet-bearing axes persistent. Spikelets not secund; pedicellate.
Female-fertile spikelets. Spikelets to 25 mm long; compressed laterally; disarticulating above the glumes; disarticulating between the florets. Rachilla prolonged beyond the uppermost female-fertile floret.
Glumes present; two; relatively large; very unequal to more or less equal; about equalling the spikelets; (the longer) long relative to the adjacent lemmas; pointed (acuminate); awnless; non-carinate. Lower glume 5–7 nerved. Upper glume 7–9 nerved. Spikelets without proximal incomplete florets.
Female-fertile florets 4–6. Lemmas similar in texture to the glumes; not becoming indurated; incised; 2 lobed; not deeply cleft (notched); awned. Awns 1; median; from a sinus (flanked by the shortish, narrow acuminate lobes); geniculate; hairless (scabrid); much longer than the body of the lemma. Lemmas hairy; non-carinate; without a germination flap; 7–9 nerved. Palea present; conspicuous but relatively short; apically notched; awnless, without apical setae; 2-nerved; 2-keeled. Lodicules present; 2; free; fleshy; glabrous; not or scarcely vascularized. Stamens 3. Anthers 4.5–5 mm long. Ovary hairy (all over). Styles free to their bases. Stigmas 3; white.
Abaxial leaf blade epidermis. Costal/intercostal zonation lacking. Papillae absent. Mid-intercostal long-cells having markedly sinuous walls. Microhairs absent. Stomata absent or very rare. Intercostal short-cells in cork/silica-cell pairs. Costal short-cells predominantly paired. Costal silica bodies rounded and tall-and-narrow; not sharp-pointed.
Transverse section of leaf blade, physiology. C3; XyMS+. Leaf blade with distinct, prominent adaxial ribs; with the ribs very irregular in sizes. Midrib not readily distinguishable; with one bundle only. All the vascular bundles accompanied by sclerenchyma. Combined sclerenchyma girders present; forming ‘figures’. Sclerenchyma not all bundle-associated. The ‘extra’ sclerenchyma in a continuous abaxial layer.
Taxonomy. Pooideae, or Arundinoideae; if pooid, Poodae; if pooid, Aveneae (?); if arundinoid, Danthonieae (?).
Distribution, ecology, phytogeography. 1 species; Himalayas. Species of open habitats. Mountain slopes.
Paleotropical. Indomalesian. Indian.
References, etc. Morphological/taxonomic: Macfarlane and Watson 1980. Leaf anatomical: this project.
Special comments. Fruit data wanting.
Illustrations. • Transverse section of leaf blade
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).
