POACEAE  

Annual or perennial, tufted, sometimes decumbent, long rhizomatous, rooting at nodes. Leaf blade expanded, long-linear usually auriculate; ligule a long, firm, unfringed membrane. Inflorescence an open or contracted panicle; spikelets solitary, shortly pedicelled; pedicels linear, somewhat cup-shaped at apex. Spikelet unconventional, strongly laterally compressed, scabrid to hispid; glumes 0 and represented by a small, 2-lobed cupule, or present and then +/- equal, reduced and small, suborbicular, thinly membranous, nerveless, acuminate, awnless. Florets 3, lower florets 2, sterile, reduced to narrow or bristle-like lemmas, much shorter than spikelet; upper floret bisexual; lemma coriaceous, oblong to elliptic, strongly keeled, rigidly ciliate, scabrid, rugose, strongly 3-9-nerved, apex obtuse or acute, (mucronate or awnless in cultivated forms) or awned; awn straight, sometimes flexous, much longer than body of lemma, 10-160 mm long, scabrid; palea as long as lemma and similar in texture, 3-nerved. Lodicules elliptic-lanceolate to obovate, 2-lobed, rarely entire. Stamens 6; anthers linear. Ovary glabrous; styles short, free; stigmas plumose. Caryopsis not grooved. x= 12 (polyploidy).

Annual or perennial, trailing or scrambling, prostrate, shade-loving; culms slender and weak, often with aerial roots from nodes. Leaf blade broadly linear to ovate, expanded, often minutely cross-veined; ligule a short, fringed membrane or a fringe of hairs. Inflorescence of several 1-sided, spike-like racemes usually scattered and distant on slender central axis, racemes sometimes reduced to fascicles, rachis narrow; spikelets abaxial, solitary, paired, subsessile or shortly pedicelled. Spikelet lanceolate to oblong, weakly laterally compressed to not noticeably or dorsiventrally compressed, falling with glumes; glumes +/- equal, similar, shorter than spikelet, membranous, elliptic, 3-5-nerved, sometimes hairy, lower or both glumes long-awned from apex; awn of lower glume always longer. Florets 2; lower floret male (rarely) or sterile; lemma acute or very shortly awned; palea usually 0; upper floret bisexual; lemma dorsally compressed, similar in texture to glumes, coriaceous, lanceolate to elliptic, entire, shortly apiculate or obtuse, glabrous, smooth, shining, margins inrolled and clasping palea, awnless; callus hairy; palea acute, relatively long, hyaline, 2-nerved. Lodicules 2, broadly cuneate, often very delicate. Stamens 3. Ovary ellipsoid, glabrous; styles distinct, plumose. Caryopsis oblong to ellipsoid. x= 9, 10, 11 (high polyploidy).

Perennial, rhizomatous, mat-forming, prickly, rigid, glaucous. Leaf blade linear or linear-lanceolate, rigid, thick, needle-like, pungent, flat or rolled, standing at an angle of +/- 45 degrees to culm; ligule a fringe of hairs. Inflorescence a dense and spike-like panicle with short, crowded subsecund branches; spikelets 2-ranked, solitary, shortly pedicelled. Spikelet +/- laterally compressed, disarticulating above glumes and between florets; glumes very unequal, similar, shorter than spikelet, scarious to membranous, narrowly ovate, rounded or weakly keeled, 1-nerved, subacute, awnless or minutely mucronate. Florets 4-9, bisexual, with upper floret reduced and sterile; lemma broadly elliptic, similar to firmer in texture to glumes, membranous, 3-nerved, lateral nerves long hairy all over, central nerve hairy towards base, hairs shorter, incised, shortly 2-lobed, mucronate or awned on back just below apex; awn short, stout; callus short, hairy; palea +/- as long as lemma, lanceolate, truncate, 2-keeled, concave between keels, scabrid on keels, sparsely pilose. Lodicules 2, broadly cuneate, glabrous. Stamens 3; anthers long. Ovary obovoid; styles free, plumose. Caryopsis (achene) ellipsoid, with free pericarp.

Perennial, tufted. Leaf blade expanded to tightly rolled; ligule an unfringed membrane. Inflorescence an open or contracted panicle; spikelets all alike, pedicelled. Spikelet laterally compressed, plump and gibbous, disarticulating above glumes; glumes +/- equal, longer than spikelet, similar, rounded on back, 3-nerved, awned or awnless. Floret 1; lemma cylindrical, convolute, firmer than glumes, becoming indurated, thick and stiff; margins strongly overlapping, awned asymmetrically; awn geniculate, robust, longer than body of lemma, apex fused at crown just below awn, crown often ciliate, cilia sometimes fused; callus short, blunt, hairy; palea one third or less length of lemma, glabrous, hyaline, nerveless. Stamens with anthers often of two different sizes even within same floret. Ovary glabrous. x = 19.

Pedicelled spikelet broadly lanceolate, resembling sessile spikelet but slightly longer and wider, male, awnless; callus linear. x= 5, 10 (polyploidy).