Gigantochloa lako (Widjaja) Z.Y. Cai & Widjaja, 2024

Gigantochloa lako (Widjaja) Z.Y. Cai & Widjaja , comb. nov. ( Figs. 1 View FIGURE 1 & 2 View FIGURE 2 )

Basionym: Bambusa lako Widjaja, Reinwardtia View in CoL 11(2): 61–63, Fig. 1 View FIGURE 1 (1997).

Type: East Timor, Viqueque, Widjaja 6535 (Holotype: BO; Isotypes: K, L, US) .

Additional specimen examined: Singapore, Pulau Ubin, Butterfly Hill, cultivated, 29 Mar. 2016, Joseph Lai SING 2016-070 ( SING [Barcode: 0194772]).

Supplementary description: Pseudospikelets fasciculate at each node of flowering branches, sessile, basally subtended by several gemmiferous bracts, 15–18 mm long; fertile florets 3, terminal floret vestigial, with only a narrow lemma; prophylls 1–2, 1–2—keeled, 4.3–5.4 mm long, glabrous, keels ciliolate; gemmiferous bracts 3–4, ovate, 5–12 mm long, both surfaces glabrous, abaxial surface sometimes sparsely pubescent at the apex, margin ciliate above the middle, 11–21—veined, apex acute, mucronate to aristulate; rachilla segments extremely short; glumes absent; lemma ovate, 12–15 mm long, both surfaces glabrous, abaxial surface sometimes sparsely pubescent at the apex, margin ciliate above the middle, 21–23—veined, apex acute, mucronate, calluses inconspicuous; palea ca. 10.5 mm long, glabrous, 2—keeled, keels apically ciliate, 3—veined between keels, each side 1—veined, apex retuse; lodicules absent; stamens 6, filaments connate into a tube, anthers ca. 6.5 mm long, apiculate, the apical extension bearing tiny hairs; style 1, long, ending in a single plumose stigma, ovary with a hairy top. Caryopsis unknown.

Notes: For the first time, Gigantochloa lako is found in Ende, Flores, Indonesia which has never been noted previously. Besides Flores, this species is also found abundantly in West Timor. In Indonesia, this species is not as commonly cultivated as Javanese Black Bamboo ( G. atroviolacea ), although it also holds excellent ornamental horticulture values in many Southeast Asian countries (Widjaja 2019).