The Grass Genera of the World
The Grass Genera of the World |
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From Latin acidum (sour) and Sasa (another bamboo genus), referring to the edible shoots.
Habit, vegetative morphology. Shrubby perennial (with sour, edible young shoots). The flowering culms leafy. Culms 300–800 cm high; woody and persistent; branched above. Primary branches/mid-culm node 3. Culm sheaths deciduous in their entirety. Rhizomes leptomorph. Plants unarmed. Leaves not basally aggregated. Leaf blades broad (large); pseudopetiolate; disarticulating from the sheaths; rolled in bud.
Reproductive organization. Plants bisexual, with bisexual spikelets; with hermaphrodite florets.
Inflorescence. Inflorescence determinate; without pseudospikelets; a single raceme, or paniculate; not comprising ‘partial inflorescences’ and foliar organs. Spikelet-bearing axes ‘racemes’, or paniculate (scanty); persistent. Spikelets pedicellate.
Female-fertile spikelets. Spikelets unconventional (having 4 glumes); compressed laterally; disarticulating above the glumes; disarticulating between the florets. Rachilla prolonged beyond the uppermost female-fertile floret.
Glumes present; several (four). Spikelets without proximal incomplete florets.
Female-fertile florets 3–6 (? - ‘several’). Palea present; relatively long; entire (acuminate). Stamens 6. Ovary without a conspicuous apical appendage. Stigmas 3.
Taxonomy. Bambusoideae; Bambusodae; Bambuseae.
Distribution, ecology, phytogeography. 6 species; mostly southern China, one species in Indo-China.
Paleotropical. Indomalesian. Indo-Chinese.
Economic importance. The young shoots are preserved by local people as a vegetable.
References, etc. Morphological/taxonomic: Chu and Chao 1979, Chao and Renvoize 1989.
Special comments. Fruit data wanting. Anatomical data wanting.
This description is offered for casual browsing only. We strongly advise against extracting comparative information from it. This is much more easily achieved using 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 specified attributes, summaries of attributes within groups of taxa, geographical distribution, classification, and species sampled for anatomy.
Cite this publication as: ‘Watson, L., 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: 7th April 2008. http://delta-intkey.com’.