POACEAE  

Pedicelled spikelet lanceolate, dorsally flattened, somewhat asymmetrical, larger than sessile spikelet, male or sterile, awnless, with long slender callus functioning as a pedicel, true pedicel reduced to a stump. x= 10 (11) (high polyploidy).

Perennial, tufted. Leaf blade linear, expanded or folded, sometimes setaceous; ligule a hyaline or scarious, unfringed membrane. Inflorescence a narrow panicle, contracted or open, erect or nodding; spikelets solitary, pedicelled. Spikelet large, 7-30 mm long, laterally compressed, disarticulating above glumes and between florets; glumes +/- equal or unequal, usually shorter than spikelet, hyaline or subhyaline, acute or acuminate or shortly awned, +/- keeled; lower glume 1-3-nerved; upper glume 3(-7)-nerved. Florets 2-6, bisexual; uppermost floret male, sterile or reduced; rachilla hairy, rarely glabrous, sometimes produced into a short bristle beyond uppermost floret; lemma firmer than glumes, firmly membranous to leathery with scarious or hyaline tips, glabrous, rounded on back, acute or acuminate, 5-11-nerved, 2-lobed (rarely 4-lobed), lobes awnless or awned; central awn from upper part of back between lobes, awn longer than body of lemma, geniculate and twisted, or slightly so; callus hairy; palea shorter than lemma, 2-keeled, ciliate. Lodicules 2, large, hyaline. Stamens 3. Ovary hairy from above middle or at apex only; styles distinct, short, plumose. x= 7 (high polyploidy).

Annual, tufted. Leaf blade expanded or rolled; ligule an unfringed membrane. Inflorescence a single cylindrical spike on a hard, articulated rachis, rachis fragile; spikelets edgeways on, alternating and sunk into rachis but longer than internodes, solitary. Spikelet dorsiventrally compressed, falling with glumes; lower glume suppressed except on terminal spikelets, upper glume 5-8 mm long, as long as spikelet, abaxial, 3-7(9)-nerved, glabrous, awnless. Floret 1, bisexual; lemma less firm than glumes, membranous, glabrous, 3-nerved, laterals short, awnless; palea present. Lodicules 2, membranous, glabrous. Stamens 1-3. Ovary glabrous. Caryopsis oblong, somewhat dorsally compressed with an appendage at apex. x= 13 (polyploidy).

Annual. Leaf blade linear, flat; ligule an unfringed membrane. Inflorescence a contracted or spike-like panicle, often cylindrical; spikelets unequally pedicelled, pedicel with a thickened tip. Spikelet linear-oblong, laterally compressed, rachilla produced as a fine hairy bristle or not produced; glumes unequal, longer than spikelet, dissimilar, lanceolate, usually membranous above and indurated at base, swollen and rounded on back near base, keeled above, 1-nerved, acuminate. Floret 1, bisexual, lemma elliptic, rounded dorsally, less firm than glumes, hyaline, finely 5-nerved, hairy, awned from back; awn capillary, geniculate and twisted in lower half, much longer than body of lemma; palea as long as lemma, elliptic, 2-lobed, 2-nerved, pilose dorsally. Lodicules 2, hyaline, glabrous. Stamens 3. Ovary subglobose, glabrous; styles plumose. Caryopsis ellipsoid. x= 7.

Annual or perennial, tufted or decumbent, rhizomatous; sometimes dioecious. Leaf blade expanded, folded or rolled, linear to linear-lanceolate, often auricled; sheaths often splitting into fibres at base with age; ligule an unfringed membrane, often conspicuous. Inflorescence an open or contracted panicle, sometimes spike-like; spikelets solitary, not secund, pedicelled. Spikelet 6-20 mm long, laterally compressed, disarticulating above glumes, rachilla extension present; glumes unequal, shorter than spikelet, similar, membranous, awnless, lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, acute or obtuse, 1-3-nerved or upper glume (1-)3-5-nerved, keeled to rounded, often scabrid on keel. Florets (rarely 1)2-14, bisexual or uppermost floret reduced and sterile; lemma 3.5-11.0 mm long, similar to firmer than glumes, lanceolate, rounded on back, at least at base, membranous, usually glabrous, rarely shortly hairy, 3-7-nerved, tip firm, acute, entire, awnless or awned at apex or rarely below; awn straight, usually shorter than body of lemma; palea +/- equal to lemma, lanceolate, 2-keeled, almost hyaline, keels +/- scaberulous. Lodicules 2, unequally 2-lobed, hyaline. Stamens 3. Ovary minutely hairy upwards or only at apex, rarely glabrous; styles distinct, very short, terminal or subterminal, plumose. x= 7 (high polyploidy).