Machaerina glomerata
Content
Description
Leaves overtopping the stems, coriaceous, equitant, ensiform, gradually narrowed upwards and shortly acuminate, smooth, (3-)5-9 mm wide.
Stamens (1-)3;
Panicle erect, oblong, narrow, loose, consisting of 4-6 distant fascicles of branches, 15-30 cm long.
Distribution
Ambon present, Asia-Tropical: Maluku (Maluku present); Philippines (Philippines present); Sulawesi (Sulawesi present), Bonin Is present, Ceram present, Dinagat present, Luzon present, Mindanao present, Mt Kinabalu present, N. Borneo present, New Guinea and adjacent islands present, Pacific present, Palau Is present, Palawan present, Panay present, Sibuyan present, Solomon Is present, Talaud Is present
Pacific (Solomon Is., Palau Is., ?Bonin Is.), in Malesia: N. Borneo (Mt Kinabalu), Philippines (Palawan, Luzon, Sibuyan, Panay, Dinagat, Mindanao), Celebes, Moluccas (Talaud Is., Ceram, Ambon), New Guinea and adjacent islands.
Notes
Very polymorphic species, in which several races may be involved. KÜKENTHAL distinguished between Cladium globiceps and C. colpodes as follows:
C. globiceps: Panicle simple or subcompound, 6-14 cm long. Leaves 6-7 mm wide. Clusters of spikelets 5-8 mm across. Style-base as long as the smooth nut (Moluccas, Waigeo).
C. colpodes: Panicle subcompound, 5-15 cm long. Leaves 4 mm wide. Clusters of spikelets 4-6 mm across. Style-base half as long as the lacunose nut (Celebes, New Guinea).
I fail to trace a line between the two. The length of the style-base is variable in a single specimen; unripe nuts become wrinkled in the herbarium; also the reliability of the other very subtle characters is not corroborated by the specimens cited by KÜKENTHAL under each species.
The Philippine plants were described as Cladium juncoides ELMER. KÜKENTHAL referred them as var. juncoides to Cladium meyenii (= M. mariscoides), with which species they often agree in the elongated branches of the inflorescence; the glumes are more acute than in typical M. glomerata and there are often only 1 or 2 stamens. However, as the spikelets are only 3 mm long and usually 2-3-flowered, and the nuts are those of M. glomerata, I think their natural place is under this species.
Lepidosperma waigiuense STEUD. may belong here. I have not found the type in STEUDEL'S herbarium, but there is a specimen of M. glomerata collected by D’URVILLE in Waigeo in the Paris Herbarium, and STEUDEL’S description almost certainly refers to a species of Machaerina (“culmo ancipiti compresso, foliis ensiformibus. ramis in folio reconditis, achenio brunneo glaberrimo apice stylo basi persistente tomentoso coronato”). Stems and margins of the leaves are described as being scabrous, which possibly points to M. mariscoides.
C. globiceps: Panicle simple or subcompound, 6-14 cm long. Leaves 6-7 mm wide. Clusters of spikelets 5-8 mm across. Style-base as long as the smooth nut (Moluccas, Waigeo).
C. colpodes: Panicle subcompound, 5-15 cm long. Leaves 4 mm wide. Clusters of spikelets 4-6 mm across. Style-base half as long as the lacunose nut (Celebes, New Guinea).
I fail to trace a line between the two. The length of the style-base is variable in a single specimen; unripe nuts become wrinkled in the herbarium; also the reliability of the other very subtle characters is not corroborated by the specimens cited by KÜKENTHAL under each species.
The Philippine plants were described as Cladium juncoides ELMER. KÜKENTHAL referred them as var. juncoides to Cladium meyenii (= M. mariscoides), with which species they often agree in the elongated branches of the inflorescence; the glumes are more acute than in typical M. glomerata and there are often only 1 or 2 stamens. However, as the spikelets are only 3 mm long and usually 2-3-flowered, and the nuts are those of M. glomerata, I think their natural place is under this species.
Lepidosperma waigiuense STEUD. may belong here. I have not found the type in STEUDEL'S herbarium, but there is a specimen of M. glomerata collected by D’URVILLE in Waigeo in the Paris Herbarium, and STEUDEL’S description almost certainly refers to a species of Machaerina (“culmo ancipiti compresso, foliis ensiformibus. ramis in folio reconditis, achenio brunneo glaberrimo apice stylo basi persistente tomentoso coronato”). Stems and margins of the leaves are described as being scabrous, which possibly points to M. mariscoides.
Citation
S. T. BLAKE 1948 – In: J. Arn. Arb.: 96
LAUT. 1938 – In: Bot. Jahrb.: 260
Merr. 1916 – In: Philip. J. Sc.: Bot. 257
KUNTH 1837 – In: En.: 314
Clarke 1942 – In: Fedde, Rep. 51: 154
Miq. 1856 – In: Fl. Ind. Bat.: 339
VALCK. SUR. 1912 – In: Nova Guinea: 707
BRONGN. 1834 – In: Duperrey, Voy. Bot.: 168
KÜK. 1924 – In: Bot. Jahrb.: 52
KÜK. 1941 – In: Fedde, Rep. 50: 41
KÜK. 1940 – In: Bull. Jard. Bot. Btzg: 310
KÜK. 1942 – In: Fedde, Rep. 51: 155
Merr. 1923 – In: En. Philip.: 129
KANEHIRA 1935 – In: J. Dep. Agr. Kyushu Imp. Un.: 276
H. PFEIFF. 1927 – In: Fedde, Rep. 23: 349
BOECK. 1874 – In: Linnaea: 239