Olyra ecaudata Döll (1877: 326)

Lopes-Neto, Raimundo Balieiro & Viana, Pedro Lage, 2022, Flora of the Serra do Cachimbo (Eastern Amazon, Brazil): Bambusoideae (Poaceae), including the description of two new species, Phytotaxa 550 (2), pp. 99-129 : 117-118

Olyra ecaudata Döll (1877: 326) .

Type :— FRENCH GUIANA. In Guiana gallica, Leprieur 547 [holotype P, isotypes US-2877952 (fragment ex P), W-1904-0013360] .

Rhizomes pachymorph, short necks, ca. 3 mm long. Culms dimorphic, erect; vegetative culms 3–4 m tall, internodes 17–23 cm long, hollow, smooth, glabrous; flowering culms ca. 2 m tall, internodes 45–50 cm long, hollow, smooth, glabrous or short-pubescent; nodes geniculate, thickened, dark brown, glabrous or with retrorse trichomes. Leaves of vegetative culms clustered at the apex, sheath sparsely pilose, short-ciliate brown trichomes in the overlapping margins; ligules ca. 6 mm, membranous-ciliate; pseudopetioles 3–7 mm, shortly pilose on both surfaces, sometimes glabrous in the adaxial surface; blades 17–20 × 3.1–4.5 cm, ovate-lanceolate, geniculate-ascending, 5–7 per complement, glabrous on both surfaces, symmetrical, base slightly cordate, margins short-ciliate at the base and scabrous or glabrous at the apex, apex acuminate; leaves of flowering culms bladeless, sheath glabrous. Synflorescences 9.5–15 × 5.6–6.7 cm, obdeltate, the lower branches verticillate, with male spikelets on short branchlets or in pairs, one long- and the other short-pedicellate, the upper branches alternate to opposite, with 2– 6 female spikelets, rachis sparsely hirsute, scabrous; the pedicels of the male spikelets 6–8 mm long (long-pedicellate) and 2–3 mm long (short-pedicellate), the pedicels of the female spikelets 0.9–1.6 cm long, both longitudinally ridged, clavate at the apex, sparsely hirsute to pilose, scabrous. Male spikelets 6.1–6.8 × 0.7 mm, lanceolate, yellowish (in siccus), scaberulous, apex apiculate, falling entire; lemma 3-nerved; palea 2-nerved; filaments not seen, anthers ca. 3 mm long, yellow (in siccus). Female spikelets 7.3–8.2 × 2–3.3 mm, ovoid, stramineous (in siccus), sparsely pilose toward the nerves and margins, dispersion above the glumes; the glumes subequal, 5-7-nerved, sparsely pilose toward the nerves and margins, apex apiculate; anthecium 4.5–5 × 2.4–2.5 mm, ovoid, stramineous (in siccus), with small excavations, deciduous; lemma 7-8-nerved, scabrous, apex acute; palea 4-nerved, glabrous, apex acute; lodicules ca. 0.6 mm long; ovary 0.9–1.2 mm long, elliptic, glabrous, style 2.2–3 mm long, glabrous, stigma 2, plumose. Caryopsis not seen.

Specimens examined: — BRAZIL. Mato Grosso: Fazenda Cachimbo, sub-base Projeto RADAM, 20 November 1976, Cordeiro 1132 ( MG) . Ponto 17, 12 November 1976, Nascimento 486 ( MG) . Pará: Novo Progresso: Campo de Provas Brigadeiro Velloso , Ramal 51, próximo ao estande, no riacho, 9°18’01.7”S, 54°56’36.1”W, 25 September 2019, Lopes-Neto et al. 457 ( MG) .

Distribution and habitat: —This species is widely distributed in Central and South America, in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, French Guyana, Suriname and Venezuela, in humid forests below 500 meters ( Soderstrom & Zuloaga 1989). In Brazil, it occurs in the Amazon (AC, AM, AP, RO, RR and MT) and Mata Atlântica (BA, PB, ES and SP) domains ( Oliveira et al. 2020b). In the Serra do Cachimbo, it was found near streams in Open ombrophilous forest.

Comments: — Olyra ecaudata is easily distinguished from the other Olyra species in the Serra do Cachimbo by the dimorphic culms: vegetative culms 3–4 m tall, with 5–7 clustered leaves at the apex and sheath pilose, short-ciliate in the margins and flowering culms ca. 2 m tall, bladeless, sheath glabrous. It resembles O. taquara Swallen (1966: 87) with the symmetrical leaves, base cordate and anthecium with small excavations, however, this species differs in the female spikelet and anthecium fusiform (vs. ovoid) and the upper lemma with margins ciliate (vs. scabrous).