Otatea ramirezii Ruiz-Sanchez, 2012

Ruiz-Sanchez, Eduardo, 2013, Otatea ramirezii (Poaceae: Bambusoideae: Bambuseae) flower description and the importance of the Mexican national living bamboo collection, Phytotaxa 150 (1), pp. 54-60 : 57-58

Otatea ramirezii Ruiz-Sanchez amended description

Type:— MÉXICO. Querétaro: 500 m antes de llegar a San Juan Tetla desde El Apartadero, municipio de San Joaquín, bosque tropical caducifolio, suelos calizos, 20°58'40.8" N, 99°29'47" W , 1223 m, 10 July 2010, E. Ruiz-Sanchez & A. de Nova 304 (holotype: IBUG!; isotypes: IEB!, MEXU!, XAL!) .

Description: —Rhizomes with necks 5–15 cm long. Culms 2–5 m tall, 0.8–2.5 cm in diameter at base, erect; internodes 12–16 cm long, terete, glabrous, green-glaucous and pruinose when young, brownish-yellow when old, hollow, the walls 3–5 mm thick, the lacuna occupying <50% of the total diameter. Culm leaves 12– 17 cm long, non-overlapping, deciduous; sheaths 10–12 cm long, 3.5–5 cm wide at the base, the blades 1.8– 4.5 cm long, triangular, erect, abaxially and adaxially glabrous, the margins ciliate when young, glabrous when old; inner ligule a coriaceous rim 0.5–1 mm long, irregular, ciliate; oral setae absent; fimbriae at the apex of the sheath on both sides of the blade, 1–3 mm long, ca. 0.05 mm wide, terete, free, curly; blades 1.8– 4.5 cm long, triangular, erect, persistent, shorter than the sheaths, glabrous on both sides, the margin glabrous, the apex attenuate-subulate. Branching intravaginal; one main branch per node, if two then the central branch 3–4 times wider than the lateral branch, sometimes both branches subequal and these diverging from each other and rebranching, 33–48 cm long, diverging from the main culm at 45–60 o, with only one branch per node in the second and third orders of branching; supranodal ridge pronounced; nodal line horizontal. Foliage leaves 3–5(–7) per complement; sheaths glabrous, rounded on the back; oral setae absent; fimbriate at shoulderlike sheath summit, the fimbriae 1–2 mm long, ca. 0.05 mm in diameter, terete, free, curly; outer ligule an irregular glabrous rim up to 0.1 mm long; inner ligule 0.3–0.5 mm long, truncate, ciliate; pseudopetioles ca. 1 mm long, brownish, pulvinate at the base; blades (6.5–)8–11(–12.5) cm long, 0.4–0.8(– 1.2) cm wide, linear to linear-lanceolate, green adaxially and glabrous abaxially, with a patch of white cilia at the base extending along one side of the midrib for 2–3 mm, the base attenuate, the apex attenuate-subulate, the margins weakly serrulate. Synflorescences 5–9.5 cm long, paniculate, of 6–25 spikelets, the rachis rounded, glabrous; pedicels 2–25 mm long, angular, scabrous. Spikelets 2.5–3 cm long, green, with 3–4 florets, sometimes the upper floret sterile, the basal floret persistent and the two or three florets deciduous; rachilla joints 5–7.5 mm long, pubescent, densely pubescent at the apex of each joint; glumes narrowly triangular and navicular, abaxially slightly scabrous; glume I 4–8.2 mm long including the awn, 3–5-nerved, the awn 1–3 mm long; glume II 5.5–8.5 mm long including the awn, 4–7-nerved, the awn 1–3 mm long; lemmas 10–14.5 mm long including the awn, narrowly triangular and navicular, abaxially scabrous, 7–9- nerved, the awn 1–4 mm long, antrorsely scabrous; paleas 8–11 mm long, the keels glabrous, the sulcus pubescent, the wing glabrous, the apex bifid with antrorsely scabrous teeth. Lodicules 3, abaxially pubescent, brownish to the base with the anterior pair 1–1.3 mm long, the posterior one 1–1.2 mm long; anthers 5–6 mm long; ovary 1.2–1.8 mm long, green, glabrous. Caryopsis 7.8–8.2 mm long, sublinear, tapering to a narrow beak, brown to amber.

Specimens Examined: — MEXICO. Querétaro: on the El Apartadero road to San Juan Tetla, 6 Km from El Apartadero to San Juan Tetla and approx. 500 m before arriving at San Juan Tetla, San Joaquín Municipality,tropical deciduous forest, calcareous soils, 20°58'40.8'' N, 99°29'47'' W, 1250 m, 18 August 2012, E . Ruiz-Sanchez, L. Pérez & A. Núñez 407a, 407b, 407c, 408, 409, 410, 411, 412 (IEB!).

Comparison: —On the basis of vegetative morphology Otatea ramirezii is similar to O. acuminata , O. carrilloi and O. glauca , but based on flowering characters O. ramirezii is more similar to O. acuminata and O. fimbriata . Synflorescence size in O. fimbriata is 10–15 cm long with 30–33 spikelets, whereas in O. acuminata the synflorescence size ranges between 6.5–10 cm long with 6–15 spikelets, while the synflorescence length in O. ramirezii is 5–9.5 cm with 6–25 spikelets. The average lengths of glumes, lemmas and paleas are very similar in O. acuminata and O. ramirezii ; the differences are the following: O. acuminata has the lemma and palea keels pubescent and the lodicules glabrous with ciliate margins, whereas O. ramirezii has the lemma keels scabrous, the palea keels glabrous and pubescent lodicules.