Acidosasa carinata ( Lin 1988: 145 ) D.Z. Li & Y.X. Zhang

Li, Xing, Tong, Yi-Hua & Xia, Nian-He, 2022, Sasa guangdongensis, a new synonym of Acidosasa carinata (Poaceae: Bambusoideae), Phytotaxa 568 (2), pp. 204-212 : 210-211

Acidosasa carinata ( Lin 1988: 145) D.Z. Li & Y.X. Zhang in Zhang & Li (2010: 494),

excl. syn. M. albofarinosa Lin (1990: 19) , see notes below.

Basionym: Metasasa carinata Lin (1988: 145) .

Type: China. Guangdong Province: Xinhui City, Gudou Mountain , alt. 280 m, 25 Jun 1986, X.B. Ye 35630 (lectotype CANT!, Fig. 1 , designated here; isolectotypes CANT!)

= Sasa guangdongensis W.T.Lin & X.B. Ye in Lin (1988: 148), syn. nov.

Type: China. Guangdong Province: Taishan City, Gudou Mountain , alt. 450 m, 4 August 1986, X.B. Ye 35118 (lectotype CANT!, Fig. 2 , designated here; isolectotypes CANT: CANT00003206 , image! CANT: CANT00003207 , image!, CANT: CANT00003208 , image!, CANT: CANT00003209 , image!) .

Description:

Culm nearly erect, 1–4 m tall, 0.5–1 cm in diameter; internodes terete or slightly flattened above branches, 4.5– 25 cm long, glabrous or with easily deciduous short bristles and with small scars left after bristles falling, hollow; nodes slightly raised, with or rarely without a ring of white powder in infranodal region; supranodal ridge slightly raised; intranode 0.5–1 cm long, glabrous; branches solitary at the base of the culm, 2 at the mid or upper culm, or sometimes 3 at the upper culm. Culm bud solitary, lanceolate, green, ciliate on the upper margin, apex attenuate, base obtuse. Culm leaf sheath late deciduous, glabrous or initially with short bristles, ciliate on the upper margin; sheath scars with or sometimes without corky remains of sheath base; auricles and oral setae absent; ligule subentire, 1.5–3 mm high, puberulous at base abaxially, ciliolate along the margin; blade easily deciduous, lanceolate or linearlanceolate, spreading or reflexed, 1–3 cm long, glabrous adaxially, strigulose abaxially. Foliage leaves 4–9 per ultimate branch; sheath glabrous, with conspicuous transverse veins on the upper part abaxially; auricles and oral setae absent; inner ligule 2–4 mm high, arched, entire, glabrous; outer ligule ca. 0.5 mm high, ciliolate on margin; blades oblonglanceolate, 10–26 × 2.5–5 cm, glabrous adaxially, strigulose abaxially, apex long-acuminate, base obtuse, margin entire, sometimes sparsely serrulate; secondary veins 7–9 pairs, transverse veins conspicuous; petioles 3–5 mm long. The unit of inflorescence of the synflorescence (following Cai and Xia 2021) panicle-like, 11–17 cm long, 5–7 cm wide; main axis glabrous, basal internode 1.5–3.1 cm long; short paracladia 1–3, 0.9–2.7 cm long (excluding spikelets); long paracladia with subtending bracts, 1–4, 1.3–5 cm long (excluding spikelets), each bearing 2–4 spikelets, longest long paracladium borne at the base of the main axis, bract lanceolate to oblong, pubescent abaxially. Spikelets linear, slightly laterally compressed, 3–8 cm long, 3–6 mm wide, with 4–9 florets, uppermost floret not fully developed; spikelet pedicel slender, often slightly twisted at lower part, 1–3 cm long, glabrous; rachilla segments compressed, readily disarticulating below each floret, 4–7 mm long, pubescent and densely long ciliate at apex; glume 2, first glume ovate to oblong, 2–5 mm long, 1–4 mm wide, strigulose abaxially, 3–7-veined, apex acute; second glume oblong to lanceolate, 7–10 mm long, 2–6 mm wide, indumentum the same as the first glume, with purple-black spots abaxially, 10–13-veined, apex acute; sterile lemma 0–2, similar to fertile lemma, both sterile and fertile lemmas ovate to lanceolate, 10–19 mm long, 3–8 mm wide, strigulose and with purple-black spots abaxially, 12–18-veined, apex acute and with a fragile mucro; callus puberulent; palea 7–15 mm long, 1–2 mm wide, 2-keeled, strigose abaxially, ciliate on keels, 3–6-veined between keels, 2-veined outside keels, apex acute or bifid; lodicules 3, 2.5–3 mm long, anterior 2 oblique-ovate, posterior 1 ovate-lanceolate, glabrous; stamens 6, anthers yellow, 4–5.5 mm long; ovary longovoid; style 1, with 3 plumose stigmas, sometimes style shortly 2-branched, with 1 stigma on one branch and 2 on the other; cariopsis oblong, with a long beak, glabrous, slightly flattened on one side, ridged on the other.

Notes: Metasasa albofarinosa was merged with A. carinata by Zhang & Li (2010). However, according to the protologue and our field observation, M. albofarinosa can be distinguished from A. carinata in the erect (vs. spreading or reflexed) culm leaf blade, inconspicuous (vs. conspicuous) transverse veins on the upper part of foliage leaf sheath abaxially, and much longer (4–15 mm vs. 2–4 mm) foliage leaf ligule with an acute (vs. arched) apex. Thus, we do not agree that these two species are conspecific, and the status of M. albofarinosa needs a further study.

Additional specimens examined:

Acidosasa carinata : CHINA. Guangdong: Xinhui, Gudou Mountain , 6 Dec 1985, G.Z. Chen 25061 (CANT) ; ibid., 25 Jun 1986, X.B. Ye & G.Z. Chen 35627 (CANT), 35628 (CANT) ; ibid., 15 Jun 1988, Z.M. Wu 88006 (CANT); Taishan, Gudou Mountain , 24 Mar 2010, P.F. Ma & Z.M. Cai 10025 (KUN1233482, KUN1233483, KUN1233484, KUN1233485, KUN1233486, KUN1233487, KUN1241802) ; ibid., 31 Mar 2019, Z.Y. Cai et al. CZY-039, CZY-041 (IBSC) ; ibid., 19 May 2019, Taishan Investigation Team 440781190519033LY (IBSC) .

Metasasa albofarinosa : CHINA. Guangdong: Xinyi, Dawuling, 12 Apr 1987, Z.M. Wu 0233 (CANT); ibid., 21 Apr 2020, N.H. Xia et al. XNH-78 (IBSC); Xinyi, Mianbeiding, 20Apr 2020, N.H. Xia et al. XNH-62 (IBSC); Gaozhou, Pingyun Mountain , 16 Aug 1956, X.L. Feng 648 (IBSC); ibid., 25 Sep 2021, Z.Y. Cai & X. Li CZY-176 (IBSC) .

Figures

FIGURE 1. Lectotype of Metasasa carinata (X.B. Ye 35630, CANT). Photo by Xing Li.

FIGURE 2. Lectotype of Sasa guangdongensis (X.B. Ye 35118, CANT). Photo by Xing Li.