Vietnamosasa Nguyen
Name referring to Sasa (a bamboo genus, q.v.) and geography.
Sometimes referred to Arundinaria, Pseudosasa - including A. ciliata A. Camus and A. pusilla Chevalier and Camus
Habit, vegetative morphology. Perennial; rhizomatous. The flowering culms leafy. Culms 50–150 cm high (small bamboos); woody and persistent; to 1 cm in diameter; cylindrical; branched above. Primary branches/mid-culm node not stated - ‘branches fasciculate’. Culm internodes solid, or hollow. Rhizomes leptomorph. Plants unarmed. Leaves not basally aggregated; auriculate; with auricular setae. Leaf blades linear-lanceolate; narrow; 2–8(–10) mm wide; broadly cordate (‘subauriculate’); pseudopetiolate; cross veined; disarticulating from the sheaths; ligule present; membranous.
Reproductive organization. Plants bisexual, with bisexual spikelets; with hermaphrodite florets.
Inflorescence. Inflorescence determinate, or indeterminate (? -in V. pusilla, where the presence and number of glumes is variable, and the lower is sometimes gemmiparous); with pseudospikelets (?), or without pseudospikelets; spatheate, or espatheate. Spikelet-bearing axes ‘racemes’, or spikelike (flowering branches ‘simple’); clustered (in fascicles); persistent. Spikelets sessile to pedicellate.
Female-fertile spikelets. Spikelets 30–70 mm long; compressed laterally; disarticulating above the glumes; disarticulating between the florets. Rachilla prolonged beyond the uppermost female-fertile floret.
Glumes present, or absent (sometimes, in V. pusilla); when present, one per spikelet to two (V. pusilla), or two. Lower glume shorter than the lowest lemma. Spikelets with incomplete florets. The incomplete florets distal to the female-fertile florets. The distal incomplete florets merely underdeveloped.
Female-fertile florets 6–12. Lemmas lanceolate; awnless; hairless; multinerved. Palea present; relatively long; entire, or apically notched; awnless, without apical setae; several nerved; 2-keeled. Lodicules present; 3; free; membranous; ciliate; not toothed; heavily vascularized (below). Stamens 6. Anthers 3.5–7 mm long (the filaments short). Ovary without a conspicuous apical appendage. Styles basally fused. Stigmas 3; red pigmented.
Fruit, embryo and seedling. Fruit longitudinally grooved.
Taxonomy. Bambusoideae; Bambusodae; Bambuseae.
Distribution, ecology, phytogeography. 3 species (V. darlacensis, V. ciliata, V. pusilla); southern Vietnam.
Paleotropical. Indomalesian. Indo-Chinese.
References, etc. Morphological/taxonomic: Nguyen, T.Q. (1990). New taxa of bamboos (Poaceae, Bambusoideae) from Vietnam. Botanicheskii Zhurnal 75, 221–225. See Chevalier and Camus 1921, A. Camus 1919 and E.G. & A. Camus 1923 for descriptions of included Arundinaria (Pseudosasa) species.
Special comments. Description inadequate. Fruit data wanting. Anatomical 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).