''Oplismenus thwaitesii'' is a

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

that is endemic to

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Description

The species' culms are prostrate and are long. The leaf-blades are ovate and are long and wide. It has an obscure cross veins venation. The species also has 3–4 unilateral racemes which are located along the central axis, and are long. The central part of the

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphology (biology), Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of sperma ...

axis is long. It also has angular

rachis In biology, a rachis (from the grc, ῥάχις [], "backbone, spine") is a main axis or "shaft". In zoology and microbiology In vertebrates, ''rachis'' can refer to the series of articulated vertebrae, which encase the spinal cord. In this c ...

which bottom is

glabrous Glabrousness (from the Latin '' glaber'' meaning "bald", "hairless", "shaved", "smooth") is the technical term for a lack of hair, down, setae, trichomes or other such covering. A glabrous surface may be a natural characteristic of all or part of ...

. The

spikelet A spikelet, in botany, describes the typical arrangement of the flowers of grasses, sedges and some other Monocots. Each spikelet has one or more florets. The spikelets are further grouped into panicles or spikes. The part of the spikelet that ...

s grow in pairs and are apart from each other. They are also fertile, pedicelled, and

sessile Sessility, or sessile, may refer to: * Sessility (motility), organisms which are not able to move about * Sessility (botany), flowers or leaves that grow directly from the stem or peduncle of a plant * Sessility (medicine), tumors and polyps that ...

, with pedicels being oblong. They grow in a cluster of 2 and are subequal. Glumes are shorter than a spikelet and thinner than fertile lemma. The lower

glume In botany, a glume is a bract (leaf-like structure) below a spikelet in the inflorescence (flower cluster) of grasses (Poaceae) or the flowers of sedges (Cyperaceae). There are two other types of bracts in the spikelets of grasses: the lemma and ...

is ovate and have a pubescent surface. Its apex is acute and 1 awned. The awn is long, has no vesture, but is scaberulous. The upper glume is ovate as well but is herbaceous, 1-keeled and has veins of 5–7. Just like the lower glume, it is pubescent on the bottom but has an obtuse apex which can also be mucronate or muticous as well. Florets are 1-keeled and pubescent just like glumes but are 7-11 veined. The lower sterile

floret This glossary of botanical terms is a list of definitions of terms and concepts relevant to botany and plants in general. Terms of plant morphology are included here as well as at the more specific Glossary of plant morphology and Glossary o ...

of the lemma is ovate and is 1 length of a spikelet which is also

emarginate The following is a list of terms which are used to describe leaf morphology in the description and taxonomy of plants. Leaves may be simple (a single leaf blade or lamina) or compound (with several leaflets). The edge of the leaf may be regular o ...

membranous A membrane is a selective barrier; it allows some things to pass through but stops others. Such things may be molecules, ions, or other small particles. Membranes can be generally classified into synthetic membranes and biological membranes. ...

and mucronate. The fertile lemma is coriaceous, keelless, oblong, shiny and is long with involute margins and acute apex.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q13936841 thwaitesii