''Lecomtella'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

grasses Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns ...

with the sole species ''Lecomtella madagascariensis'', native to

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Afric ...

. It is the only genus in the

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to confl ...

Lecomtelleae. The species and genus were described by

Aimée Antoinette Camus Aimée Antoinette Camus (1 May 1879 – 17 April 1965) was a French botanist. She was best known for her study of orchids and oaks. Camus also has the legacy of authoring the second highest number of land plant species among female scientis ...

in 1925. ''L. madagascariensis'' is perennial, has culms long, and resembles

bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, ...

, to which it is however unrelated. Contrarily to many other species in subfamily Panicoideae, this grass uses C₃ photosynthesis. It is only found in the

Andringitra Massif The Andringitra Massif ("desert of rocks") is a granite massif located within Andringitra National Park in Madagascar. The range is approximately long. In its central area, the range is almost wide, though it is much narrower on either end. Pi ...

of central

, at elevations of , and critically endangered. The genus is included in the tribe

Paspaleae Paspaleae is a tribe of the Panicoideae subfamily in the grasses (Poaceae), native mainly to the tropical and subtropical Americas but with a number of species introduced to other regions. It includes roughly 680 species in 39 genera. Species in ...

in a 2015 classification although a phylogenetic study had shown in 2013 that it is isolated within the subfamily Panicoideae and best treated in a separate tribe Lecomtelleae.

References

External links

Panicoideae Endemic flora of Madagascar Monotypic Poaceae genera Taxa named by Aimée Antoinette Camus {{Panicoideae-stub