Abstract Detail

Systematics Section / ASPT

Triplett, J.K. [1], Weakley, A.S. [2], Clark, L.G. [1].

Systematics of Arundinaria sensu stricto (Bambusoideae, Poaceae) in North America.

The North Temperate woody bamboo genus Arundinaria has a long history of taxonomic confusion at various levels, notably arising from disagreement on the inclusion of East Asian taxa. Most current treatments recognize a more narrowly defined genus (Arundinaria sensu stricto) endemic to the southeastern United States and the only North American genus of tribe Bambuseae (woody bamboos). Even within this more restricted group, however, species delimitation has been controversial. In the Southeastern United States, canes occupy circumneutral to highly acidic soils of alluvial and nonalluvial wetlands, often creating dense thickets (including “canebrakes,” the once common, monospecific stands). Most treatments of the American species complex have recognized one species with two infraspecific taxa: A. gigantea subsp. gigantea, occurring primarily along river floodplains inland and in the Coastal Plain, and the smaller A. gigantea subsp. tecta, more frequent in acidic swamps, seeps, and bogs of the Coastal Plain and readily distinguished by the presence of air canals in the rhizomes. Our recent taxonomic work has focused on characters poorly represented in herbarium specimens. Morphologic, genetic, and geographic data support the recognition of three species: river cane (A. gigantea), switch cane (A. tecta), and a newly characterized species from upland forests of the Appalachian mountains, hill cane (Arundinaria sp. nov.). Diagnostic characters include rhizome structure, number and shape of leaves in clusters at the tips of new shoots, foliage leaf blade texture and persistence, leaf sheath auricles and fimbriae, and primary branch development. Principal components analysis (PCA) of morphological characters supports the recognition of three entities, and distinctions among the taxa are further supported by amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) data. This study reflects current efforts to clarify the phylogeny of the North Temperate woody bamboo clade.

1 - Iowa State University, Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology, 353 Bessey Hall, Ames, Iowa, 50011-1020, U.S.A.
2 - University of North Carolina, Herbarium/NC Botanical Garden, Coker Hall, CB 3280, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 27599-3280, U.S.A.

Keywords:
Arundinaria
cane
temperate bamboos
systematics.

Presentation Type: Paper
Session: 20-11
Location: Cottonwood B (Snowbird Center)
Date: Monday, August 2nd, 2004
Time: 4:30 PM
Abstract ID:232