Three little known species of Ochlandra thwaites (Poaceae) from Western Ghats, India

Abstract

Bamboos are, among the taxonomically least known groups of plants. Being monocarpic and flowering gregariously, collection of infructescenca has bean a great problem for taxonomists and consequently many taxa are, even now, known only from vegetative materials. This paper deals with three such taxa of Ochlandra, a genus of 8 species, occuring in South India, Sri Lanka and Madagascar. viz. O. setigera, O. beddomei and O. travancoroca var. hirsuta, the flowers and fruits of which have been recently collected and studied by us, for the first time. Their complete and amended descriptions are provided here.