Taquara micranta (Kunth.) I. L. C. Oliveira & R. P. Oliveira

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 : 125

Taquara micranta (Kunth in Humboldt et al. 1815: 160) I.L.C.Oliveira & R.P.Oliveira in Oliveira et al. (2020: 78)

≡ Olyra micrantha Kunth in Humboldt et al. (1815: 160).

Type:— VENEZUELA. Amazonas: Maypures do Rio Orinoco , Humboldt & Bonpland s.n. [holotype P-642201, isotype US-2877940 (fragment ex P)] .

Rhizomes not seen. Culms ca. 2 m tall, erect to geniculate, internodes 19–26 cm, hollow, smooth, glabrescent, with white trichomes; nodes dark brown, pubescent, with white trichomes. Leaf sheaths glabrous, margins densely ciliate; ligules ca. 1.2 mm, membranous-ciliate; pseudopetioles 3–6 mm, flat, glabrescent, with yellow trichomes (in siccus); blades 25–29 × 5.5–7 cm, oblong-lanceolate, glabrous on both surfaces, symmetrical, base subcordate, margins short-ciliate, apex acuminate. Synflorescences 7–16 × 5–6 cm, pyramidal, rachis shortly pilose, trichomes ca. 0.3 mm, pedicels 0.1–0.8 cm, filiform, hispid. Male spikelets 5–6 × 0.3–0.4 mm, lanceolate, stramineous (in siccus), scabrous, falling entire; lemma 3–4-nerved, apex aristate, 1–2 mm long; palea 2-nerved, apex acute; stamens 2, included, filaments ca. 0.4 mm long, glabrous, anthers ca. 1.4–1.9 mm, yellowish (in siccus). Female spikelets 3–4 × 1.7–2 mm, ellipsoid, inflated, purplish (in siccus), covered by long and retrorse trichomes, thickened and elongated in the nerves; lower glume 5-7-nerved, apex aristate, 2–4 mm; upper glume 5-7-nerved, apex aristate, 2–4 mm; anthecium 1.9–2.2 × 1.3–1.6 mm, lanceolate, shorter than the glumes, stramineous (in siccus), foveolate (with small pits) over the entire surface, caducous; lemma 5-nerved, pilose, apex rounded; palea 2-nerved, glabrous, apex rounded; lodicules not seen; ovary 0.5–1.1 mm, elliptic, glabrous, style 1, ca. 0.3 mm long, glabrous, stigma 2, plumose. Caryopsis not seen.

Specimens examined: — BRAZIL. Pará: Novo Progresso, Campo de Provas Brigadeiro Velloso , Trilha para Cachoeira da Harpia, 9°18’14.3”S, 55°09’00.1”W, 01 October 2019, Lopes-Neto et al. 559 ( MG) .

Distribution and habitat: —This species is widely distributed in the Neotropics, from eastern Colombia and Venezuela to the eastern Andes and Atlantic coast of Brazil ( Oliveira et al. 2020a). In Brazil, it is registered in all states (Oliveira & Oliveira 2020). It grows in the interior and along the edges of forests ( Oliveira et al. 2020a). In the Serra do Cachimbo, it was found in Open ombrophilous forest.

Comments: — Taquara micrantha and P. luetzelburgii share the paniculate synflorescence with lower branches whorled and bearing only male spikelets, but the former can be differentiated by its oblong-lanceolate leaves, glabrous on both surfaces and margins short-ciliate (vs. ovate-lanceolate leaves, densely scabrous to hispid on both surfaces and margins long-ciliate) and synflorescence with both male and female spikelets aristate (vs. only the female spikelet aristate), the male spikelet scabrous (vs. hispid) and the female anthecium foveolate (with small pits) over the entire surface (vs. only at the apex).