Mullerochloa, a New Genus of Bamboo (Poaceae: Bambusoideae) from North-East Australia and Notes on the Circumscription of Bambusa

A climbing bamboo endemic to North Queensland in Australia, previously named Bambusa moreheadiana, represents a new monotypic endemic genus there, Mullerochloa. Its clambering-scrambling, generally non-twining habit, sympodial rhizomes, inflated proximal ends of culm internodes and culm sheaths with a wrinkled basal zone, are distinctive vegetative characters. Additional important characters of the reproductive system include the iterauctant flowering habit, producing clusters of pseudospikelets, each with 4–9 flowers and a terminal vestigial flower; paleas that conspicuously exceed the lemmas in length; consistently four anthers borne on a filament tube; and a glabrous ovary. A discussion of the circumscription of the Asiatic genus Bambusa, with which a number of other distinct genera, including Mullerochloa, have been confused, is provided.