| # The grass genera of the world |

L. Watson, T.D. Macfarlane, and M.J. Dallwitz

### Teinostachyum Munro

~ Neohouzeaua, Ochlandra, Schizostachyum

Excluding Davidsea

Habit, vegetative morphology. Perennial; caespitose. The flowering culms leafy. Culms 400–1000 cm high; woody and persistent; to 1–3 cm in diameter; not scandent (shrubby or arborescent); branched above. Young shoots extravaginal. Leaves not basally aggregated. Leaf blades broad; 10–50 mm wide (15–30 cm long); cordate, or not cordate, not sagittate; pseudopetiolate (the blade recurved); without cross venation (but with bridging by pellucid glands); disarticulating from the sheaths; rolled in bud. Ligule an unfringed membrane.

Reproductive organization. Plants bisexual, all with bisexual spikelets; with hermaphrodite florets.

Inflorescence. Inflorescence indeterminate; with pseudospikelets (?); paniculate (spikelets in spike-like panicles); spatheate; a complex of ‘partial inflorescences’ and intervening foliar organs. Spikelet-bearing axes paniculate (the spike-like panicles on leafy branches); persistent. Spikelets not secund.

Female-fertile spikelets. Spikelets 15–75 mm long; disarticulating above the glumes; disarticulating between the florets. Rachilla prolonged beyond the uppermost female-fertile floret; the rachilla extension with incomplete florets.

Glumes one per spikelet, or two; shorter than the adjacent lemmas; awnless. Spikelets with incomplete florets. The incomplete florets both distal and proximal to the female-fertile florets. The distal incomplete florets merely underdeveloped. Spikelets with proximal incomplete florets. The proximal incomplete florets 1. The proximal lemmas shortly awned, or awnless (but mucronate); similar in texture to the female-fertile lemmas.

Female-fertile florets 2–10 (? ‘few to many’). Lemmas similar in texture to the glumes; not becoming indurated; entire; pointed; mucronate to awned. Awns when present, 1; apical; much shorter than the body of the lemma. Lemmas 9–11 nerved. Palea present; several nerved (5–9); 2-keeled. Palea keels hairy (ciliate). Lodicules present; 3; free; membranous; ciliate, or glabrous; not toothed; heavily vascularized (with 3–9 nerves). Stamens 6. Anthers not penicillate; with the connective apically prolonged, or without an apically prolonged connective. Ovary apically glabrous; with a conspicuous apical appendage. The appendage long, stiff and tapering. Styles fused. Stigmas 2, or 3.

Fruit, embryo and seedling. Fruit free from both lemma and palea. Pericarp thick and hard (crustaceous); free.

Classification. Watson & Dallwitz (1994): Bambusoideae; Bambusodae; Bambuseae. Soreng et al. (2015): Bambusoideae; Bambusodae; Bambuseae. 3 species.

Distribution, phytogeography, ecology. India.

Special comments. Fruit data wanting. Anatomical data wanting.

Illustrations. • Teinostachyum helferi: Gamble, Ann. Roy. Bot. Gard. Calcutta 7 (1896).

We advise against extracting comparative information from the descriptions. This is much more easily achieved using the DELTA data files or the interactive key, which allows access to the character list, illustrations, full and partial descriptions, diagnostic descriptions, differences and similarities between taxa, lists of taxa exhibiting or lacking specified attributes, distributions of character states within any set of taxa, geographical distribution, and classifications. See also Guidelines for using data taken from Web publications.

Cite this publication as: ‘Watson, L., Macfarlane, T.D., and Dallwitz, M.J. 1992 onwards. The 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. Version: 15th June 2025. delta-intkey.com’.

Contents