Cladium P.Browne (Browne 1756: 114)

Rasaminirina, Fitiavana & Larridon, Isabel, 2023, The genera of Cyperaceae of Madagascar, Plant Ecology and Evolution 156 (3), pp. 276-310 : 276

publication ID

https://dx.doi.org/10.5091/plecevo.98847

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/83CCB105-A748-5586-AB4E-537320E75BC3

treatment provided by

by Pensoft

scientific name

Cladium P.Browne (Browne 1756: 114)
status

 

Cladium P.Browne (Browne 1756: 114) View in CoL

Type species.

Cladium jamaicense Crantz [= Cladium mariscus subsp. jamaicense Kük.]

Description of the genus.

Robust perennials, up to several meters tall; rhizomatous, sometimes with swollen stolons. Culms with few-noded, internodes hollow. Leaves basal and cauline, V-shaped to flat, midribs and margins scabrid, eligulate. Involucral bracts leaf-like, sheathing. Inflorescence terminal or some lateral, paniculate; partial inflorescences anthelate. Spikelets numerous, short stalked or sessile. Glumes few to many, spirally arranged, persistent, increasing in length, with 2-3 upper glumes fertile. Lower floret mostly functionally male, upper florets bisexual. Perianth absent. Stamens 2-3. Style 2-3-fid, with a thickened persistent base. Nutlets ovoid, with a thick corky beak, surface smooth to wrinkled. Embryo small and poorly developed, broadly obovate in outline, with a basal, poorly developed root cap and without a leaf primordium.

Distribution and ecology.

Cladium is a cosmopolitan genus ( POWO 2022). It grows in estuaries, freshwater wetlands, and lake margins up to 1500 m in elevation. In Madagascar, it is only known from the north where a single taxon, i.e. Cladium mariscus subsp. jamaicense (Fig. 5 View Figure 5 ), has been recorded in the Sava region of Antsiranana province.

Kingdom

Plantae

Phylum

Tracheophyta

Class

Liliopsida

Order

Poales

Family

Cyperaceae

SubFamily

Cyperoideae

Tribe

Cladieae