Olyra, Linnaeus (1759:, 1261

Ruiz-Sanchez, Eduardo, Clark, Lynn G., Londoño, Ximena, Mejía-Saulés, Teresa & Rodríguez, Gilberto Cortés, 2015, Morphological keys to the genera and species of bamboos (Poaceae: Bambusoideae) of Mexico, Phytotaxa 236 (1), pp. 1-24 : 20

Olyra L.

Herbaceous or subwoody plants; culms hollow, erect to scandent; culm leaves usually absent; aerial branching limited or absent; synflorescences paniculate, with numerous subterminal staminate spikelets and a few terminal pistillate spikelets; pistillate spikelets borne on widened peduncles; glumes usually subequal, several-nerved, glabrous; fruit a basic caryopsis ( Fig. 8A–B ).

1. Sheaths glabrous to hispid, ciliate with summit extensions; leaf blades 6–31 × 1.5–12 cm, lanceolate to ovate, glabrous to hispid, asymmetrical at the base and obtuse; synflorescences 12–21 × 4–14 cm; staminate spikelets with lemma glabrous to scabrous, awned, anthers 2.5–3.5 mm long; pistillate anthecium ovate, obtuse to acute apically with rounded excavations toward the upper margins of the palea and lower margins of the lemma, 5.6–6.1 mm long ......................................................................... O. latifolia United States of America (Florida) to Brazil, widely distributed; 0–1300 m.

1. Sheaths glabrous, without summit extension; leaf blades 6–21 × 1.5–5.5 cm, oblong-elliptic to lanceolate, glabrous, asymmetrical at the base, the narrow side rounded, the wide side oblique; synflorescences 5–11 × 2.5 cm; male spikelets with lemma glabrous, short-awned; anthers 4–5 cm long; pistillate anthecium broadly ellipsoid, acute, densely pubescent toward the apical margins of the lemma, with long, flat, whitish to brownish macrohairs, short pubescent at the apex, 6.5–8.6 mm long...................................... ....................................................................................................................................................................................... O. glaberrima Mexico to Brazil; Campeche, Chiapas, Oaxaca, Quintana Roo, Yucatan; 0– 300 m.

Figures

FIGURE 8. A–B, Olyra latifolia. A. Synflorescence and flowers. B. Foliage leaves. C–D. Cryptocholoa strictiflora. C. Leaf blades, abaxial view, showing purple color. D. Complete plant. E–F. Lithachne pauciflora. E. Female (above) and male (below) spikelets. F. Leaf blades, adaxial view. Photos by E. Ruiz-Sanchez.