Overview
Interesting Facts
Description
Genus Lepturus
Perennial
, rarely annual
. Culms
stoloniferous
or decumbent
. Leaf blades
linear
or linear-lanceolate; ligule membranous, margin
ciliate
. Inflorescence a single cylindrical bilateral
raceme
; spikelets
alternate, sessile, borne edgeways and sunken
in hollows on opposite sides of articulated rachis, falling with adjacent
rachis internode; rachis terminating in a spikelet. Spikelets dorsally
compressed
, florets
1 or 2, disarticulating
above glumes
and between florets, rachilla extension
with apical rudimentary
floret present; lower glume minute or suppressed
; upper glume leathery, appressed
to rachis, exceeding and covering the sunken florets, closely 5-12-veined, apex acute to caudately awned
; lemma much shorter than upper glume, rounded
on back, cartilaginous
to hyaline
, 3-veined, apex obtuse
to acute; palea membranous, usually equal to lemma. Caryopsis ellipsoid
, pericarp free
. x = 9. Leaf anatomy: Kranz PS type, with short stout microhairs.
Eight to fifteen species: shores
of Indian and W Pacific Oceans; one species in China.
Lepturus has characteristic, sunken spikelets within a fragile rachis, unique in the tribe
, but the leaf anatomy is typically chloridoid. Its precise affinities are uncertain, and it is sometimes placed in its own tribe, Leptureae.[1]
Taxonomy
- Domain:
Eukaryota
(
)
- Whittaker & Margulis,1978
- eukaryotes
- Kingdom:
Plantae
()
- Haeckel, 1866
- Plants
- Subkingdom:
Viridaeplantae
()
- Cavalier-Smith, 1981
- Phylum:
Tracheophyta
()
- Sinnott, 1935 ex Cavalier-Smith, 1998
- Vascular Plants
- Subphylum:
Euphyllophytina
()
- (Auct.) Cavalier-Smith, 1998
- Infraphylum:
Angiospermae
()
- Auct.
- Class:
Magnoliopsida
()
- Brongniart, 1843
- Dicotyledons
- Subclass:
Commelinidae
()
- Takhtajan, 1967
- Superorder:
Juncanae
()
- Takhtajan, 1967
- Order:
Poales
()
- Small, 1903
- Family:
Gramineae
()
- A.L. de Jussieu, 1789, nom. cons., nom. alt.
- Subfamily:
Chloridoideae
()
- Subfamily:
Chloridoideae
(
- Family:
Gramineae
(
- Order:
Poales
(
- Superorder:
Juncanae
(
- Subclass:
Commelinidae
(
- Class:
Magnoliopsida
(
- Infraphylum:
Angiospermae
(
- Subphylum:
Euphyllophytina
(
- Phylum:
Tracheophyta
(
- Subkingdom:
Viridaeplantae
(
- Kingdom:
Plantae
(
Similar Species
Members of the genus Lepturus
ZipcodeZoo has pages for 2 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus:
L. filiformis (Thread Thintail) · L. repens (Pacific Island Thintail)
More Info
- Search for Pictures: images.google.com
- Search for Scholarly Articles: Google Scholar
- Search using Scientific Name and Vernacular Names: All the Web | AltaVista Canada | AltaVista | Excite | Google | HotBot | Lycos
- Search using Specialized Databases: GenBank | Medline | Scirus | CISTI/CAL | Agricola Periodicals | Agricola Books
Further Reading
- A flora of California, by Willis Linn Jepson. San Francisco, Calif., Cunningham, Curtis & Welch, 1909- url p. 180.
- American grasses / by F. Lamson-Scribner. Washington: U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Division of Agrontology, 1897- url p. 315.
- American grasses. Washington, Govt. Print. Off., 1900. url p. 316.
- An illustrated flora of the Pacific States: Washington, Oregon, and California. Stanford University, Stanford University Press, 1923-[60] url p. 239.
- Bulletin / United States Department of Agriculture, Division of Agrostology. Washington, D.C.: The Division, 1895-1901. url p. 315, p. 315.
- Flora of the state of Washington / by Charles V. Piper. Washington: G.P.O., 1906 url p. 146.
- Manual of the grasses of the United States / by A.S. Hitchcock. Washington: U.S. G.P.O., 1935. url p. 942.
- The genera of grasses of the United States: with special reference to the economic species / by A.S. Hitchcock. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, 1920. url p. 93.
Notes
Contributors
- Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-present. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Zwaag, The Netherlands. Accessed January 12, 2012.
Identifiers
- Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 3486165
- Global Biodiversity Information Facility Taxonkey: 15761920
- Globally Unique Identifier: urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:407238-1
- Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 1117651
Footnotes
- Zhen-lan Wu & Sylvia M. Phillips "Lepturus". in Flora of China Vol. 22 Page 488. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
