POACEAE  

Perennial or annual, tufted to decumbent, rhizomatous. Leaf blade linear or setaceous, somewhat rigid, flat or rolled and pungent; ligule a fringe of hairs. Inflorescence a panicle, dense and contracted; spikelets solitary, pedicelled or subsessile. Spikelet 7.5-24.0 mm long, lanceolate, laterally compressed, disarticulating above glumes and +/- between florets; glumes +/- equal, as long as to longer than spikelet, similar, firm, with hyaline margin, prominently 5-11-nerved, separated by an internode, awnless; upper glume somewhat narrower than lower, usually acuminate. Florets 3-6, bisexual or sometimes upper floret male, sterile and reduced to a small scale; lemma similar in texture to glumes, membranous, prominently 7-11-nerved, densely and shortly hairy between nerves and with tufts of hairs at point of insertion of median awn, 2-lobed, lobes narrow, hyaline and tapering into short straight lateral awns, central awn arising from sinus, geniculate; callus obliquely pungent, hairy; palea membranous, obtuse or 2-lobed, 2-keeled, keels winged. Lodicules 2, glabrous, cuneate, fleshy. Stamens 3. Ovary glabrous; styles long, densely plumose. x= 6 (high polyploidy).

Annual, tufted or culms solitary, sometimes geniculate. Leaf blade rolled or expanded, glabrous; ligule a hyaline, unfringed membrane. Inflorescence a panicle with somewhat rigid, short branches, or a raceme, spike-like, linear to ovate, secund; spikelets solitary. Spikelet 5-7(-10) mm long, laterally compressed, green or purplish in colour, disarticulating above glumes; glumes +/- equal, shorter than spikelet, similar to dissimilar, keeled, membranous, awnless; lower glume 1-3-nerved; upper glume 3-5-nerved. Florets 3-10, bisexual or uppermost floret reduced and sterile; lemma overlapping at first, rounded at least towards base, glabrous, 5-nerved, awnless; palea +/- equal to lemma, 2-keeled. Lodicules 2, ovate, hyaline. Stamens 3. Ovary ovoid, glabrous; styles distinct, plumose. x= 7.

Perennial, robust, tufted, long-rhizomatous. Leaf blade expanded; ligule an unfringed membrane. Inflorescence a panicle, linear, usually rather narrow, contracted and dense; spikelets shortly pedicelled. Spikelet usually 5.5-8.0 mm long, laterally compressed, disarticulating above glumes, linear, narrow, acuminate; glumes subequal, linear-lanceolate, longer than spikelet, firmly membranous, keeled upwards, scaberulous, awnless; lower glume 1-nerved; upper glume 1-3-nerved. Floret 1, bisexual, lemma less firm to similar in texture to glumes, hyaline, glabrous, 3-5-nerved, truncate-denticulate or lobed, awned from back well below apex, awn short, fine and straight, not extending beyond glumes; callus hairy, hairs white, as long as or longer than lemma; palea as long as lemma or shorter, 2-nerved, hyaline. Lodicules 2, hyaline, glabrous. Stamens 3. Ovary glabrous; styles plumose. Caryopsis narrowly ellipsoid. x= 7 (high polyploidy).

Annual or perennial, tufted. Leaf blade linear to linear-lanceolate, expanded; ligule an unfringed membrane. Inflorescence a panicle, open to loosely contracted; spikelets solitary, pedicelled. Spikelet laterally compressed or globose, ovate to rotund, disarticulating above glumes and between florets; glumes +/- equal, shorter than spikelet, similar, 3-9-nerved, awnless. Florets many, bisexual; upper floret sometimes reduced, closely imbricate, lemma similar in texture to glume, papery with broad scarious margins all round, as broad as long, gibbous, cordate at base, not keeled, horizontally spreading, 7-9-nerved, obtuse to acuminate, 2-lobed, awnless or mucronate; callus short, glabrous; palea shorter than lemma, membranous, 2-keeled, keels often narrowly winged. Lodicules 2, small, glabrous. Stamens 3. Ovary glabrous. Caryopsis ellipsoid. x= 5, 7 (aneuploids, polyploidy ).

Perennial or annual, tufted or decumbent, stoloniferous. Leaf blade linear to almost lanceolate, rigid; ligule a short, truncate, fringed membrane. Inflorescence of racemes on a central axis, these long and deciduous or short, persistent and crowded into a loose head or spreading; spikelets solitary, pedicelled. Spikelet laterally compressed, lanceolate-oblong to ovate-oblong, disarticulating above glumes and between florets; glumes +/- equal, shorter than spikelet, lateral to rachis, lanceolate, keeled, glabrous to minutely scaberulous; lower glume subcoriaceous, acute, awnless, sometimes mucronate, 1-3-nerved; upper glume coriaceous with margins membranous, 3-7-nerved, acuminate to shortly mucronate from between lobes. Florets 3-7, bisexual or uppermost floret reduced and sterile; lemma similar in texture to glumes, chartaceous, subobtuse to obtuse, lightly keeled with a single median keel, glabrous or hairy on margins, 3-7-nerved, nerves faint in upper half, 2-lobed, shortly mucronate; callus 0; palea shorter than lemma, slightly gibbous at base, lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, 2-keeled. Lodicules 2, hyaline, minute. Stamens 3. Ovary glabrous; styles distinct, plumose. Caryopsis ellipsoid or trigonous, with free pericarp.