Caryopsis micromorphological survey of the genus Temeda (Poaceae) and alliedspathaceous genera in the Andropogoneae

Abstract

A caryopsis micromorphological survey of 15 species of the genus Temeda Forssk. (Poaceae) and 4 species of alliedspathaceous genera in tribe Andropogoneae allowed the recognition of 2 types of caryopses based on the ventral face and embryoshape for the frst time. One kind of caryopsis had a concave ventral face with a grooved embryo, and the other kind of caryopsishad a fat ventral face with a keel-shaped embryo. Although the ventral face and embryo shapes had limited taxonomic value at theinfrageneric level, the caryopsis shapes, embryo proportion, and sculpturing patterns were found to be valuable taxonomic charactersat the interspecifc level in Temeda . Consistent micromorphological characters of style base persistence and dorsiventral compressionwere observed for the frst time in the caryopses of representative species of spathaceous genera in the Andropogoneae.