| # The grass genera of the world |

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

### Dendrochloa C.E. Parkinson

~ Schizostachyum

Habit, vegetative morphology. Perennial. The flowering culms leafy. Culms 1500–2000 cm high; woody and persistent; to 11 cm in diameter; not scandent; branched above. Pluricaespitose. Rhizomes leptomorph. Plants unarmed. Leaves not basally aggregated; without auricular setae. Leaf blades linear-lanceolate; broad (long-acuminate); 50–90 mm wide; rolled; pseudopetiolate (the pseudopetiole about 1 cm long); without cross venation (these inconspicuous and remote); disarticulating from the sheaths. Ligule erect and conspicuous; not truncate (obtuse); 3–7 mm long.

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

Inflorescence. Inflorescence determinate; without pseudospikelets; paniculate (about 75 cm long, with verticils of branches); spatheate; not comprising ‘partial inflorescences’ and foliar organs. Spikelet-bearing axes ‘racemes’, or paniculate (?); persistent. Spikelets solitary.

Female-fertile spikelets. Spikelets about 40–60 mm long; compressed laterally; disarticulating above the glumes; disarticulating between the florets; with distinctly elongated rachilla internodes between the florets (the segments about 2 cm long). Rachilla prolonged beyond the uppermost female-fertile floret; the rachilla extension with incomplete florets. Hairy callus absent.

Glumes present; two; shorter than the spikelets; shorter than the adjacent lemmas (3–10 mm long); hairless; awnless (mucronate); non-carinate; similar (rigid). Spikelets with incomplete florets. The incomplete florets distal to the female-fertile florets.

Female-fertile florets 5–7. Lemmas about 1 cm wide; similar in texture to the glumes; not becoming indurated; entire; pointed; mucronate to awned (aristo-mucronate). Awns 1; median; apical; non-geniculate; much shorter than the body of the lemma. Lemmas hairless (but ciliate at the tip); glabrous; non-carinate; about 13 nerved. Palea present; relatively long (equalling the lemma, or longer); apically notched; awnless, without apical setae; several nerved (6 nerved between the keels, 5 nerved between them and the margins); 2-keeled. Palea keels wingless. Lodicules present; 3; membranous; ciliate; not toothed (narrowly obovate-oblong, 1 –1.2 cm long); heavily vascularized. Stamens 6; triadelphous (one free, and a pair and a triplet with connate filaments). Anthers 14 mm long; without an apically prolonged connective. Ovary apically glabrous; with a conspicuous apical appendage. The appendage long, stiff and tapering. Styles fused (into one). Stigmas 3 (the ‘style’ apex obscurely trifid).

Fruit, embryo and seedling. Fruit large (about 2 cm long); not noticeably compressed (ellipso-cylindric). Seed endospermic.

Classification. Watson & Dallwitz (1994): Bambusoideae; Bambusodae; Bambuseae. Soreng et al. (2015): Bambusoideae; Bambusodae; Bambuseae; Melocanninae. 1 species (D. distans).

Distribution, phytogeography, ecology. Burma.

References, etc. Morphological/taxonomic: Parkinson 1933.

Special comments. Anatomical data wanting.

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’.

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