POACEAE  

Pedicelled spikelet similar to sessile spikelet. x= 10 (polyploidy).

Perennial, rarely annual, tufted or mat-forming. Leaf blade longitudinally folded and setaceous, rarely expanded; ligule a narrow fringed membrane or a fringe of hairs. Inflorescence a solitary, terminal, slender, curved, 1-sided spike; rachis semicrescent in section, hairy; spikelets solitary, sessile. Spikelet dark, dorsiventrally to not noticeably compressed, disarticulating above glumes; glumes +/- equal, +/- as long as spikelet or lower glume little shorter than spikelet, dissimilar, membranous, 1-nerved, awnless; lower glume lanceolate or linear-oblong, acute or obtuse, keeled, somewhat gibbous at base; upper glume lanceolate, acute, rounded on back. Floret 1, bisexual; lemma lanceolate or ovate, membranous to hyaline, 2-nerved, densely hairy on margins and midrib, awnless or mucronate; palea almost equalling or slightly shorter than lemma, hyaline, pilose. Lodicules 2, cuneate, glabrous, thin, faintly nerved. Stamens 3. Ovary glabrous; styles distinct, plumose. Caryopsis ellipsoid. x= 10 (polyploidy).

Annual or perennial, tufted. Leaf blade expanded, rarely rolled, usually linear-lanceolate, blades and sheaths pilose with bulbous-based hairs or glabrous; ligule a fringed membrane or a fringe of hairs. Inflorescence a panicle, contracted and narrow or open and spreading; spikelets pedicelled, pedicels capillary. Spikelet symmetrical or asymmetrical in profile; laterally or dorsiventrally compressed or not noticeably compressed, glabrous to densely hairy; glumes unequal, dissimilar, awnless or awned; lower glume reduced to a minute scale or rim or absent, sometimes distant from upper glume, nerveless to 1-nerved; upper glume as long as spikelet, sometimes gibbous, emarginated to 2-lobed at apex, often awned from between lobes, sometimes tapering to a beak above, finely or prominently 5-9-nerved. Florets 2; lower floret male or sterile; lemma resembling upper glume but narrower, often hairy, 3-7-nerved, awnless or usually awned; palea present or 0, when present scaberulous or ciliate on margins; upper floret bisexual; lemma less firm to similar in texture as glumes, smaller than lower lemma, often deciduous before rest of spikelet, smooth, glabrous, margins flat and +/- covering palea; palea similar to upper lemma. Lodicules 3, very delicate. Stamens 3. Ovary ellipsoid, glabrous; style free, plumose. Caryopsis oblong to oblong-ellipsoid. x= 9 (polyploidy).

Annual or short-lived perennial, tufted. Leaf blade expanded, broadly lanceolate, cross veins present (more visible on lower surface), amplexicaul at base; ligule an unfringed membrane. Inflorescence an open panicle; spikelets solitary, pedicels long, slender. Spikelet laterally compressed, disarticulating above glumes and between florets; glumes unequal, similar, shorter than spikelet, keeled, obtuse to broadly ovate, 3- or 4-nerved, middle nerve excurrent into a short awn or mucro. Florets many, all bisexual though smaller at apex; lemma similar in texture to glumes, chartaceous, glabrous, obscurely 5-7-nerved, apex shortly 2-lobed or emarginate, middle nerve running out into a short mucro between lobes; palea almost equalling lemma, 2-keeled, ciliolate on keels, membranous, inflexed margins very narrow. Stamens 2 or 3. Ovary glabrous; styles distinct, plumose. Caryopsis subglobose. x= 12 (polyploidy).

Perennial, tufted. Leaf blade narrowly linear to linear, expanded or rolled; ligule a fringe of hairs. Inflorescence an open or contracted, rarely spike-like panicle; spikelets solitary or in pairs, rarely in threes, pedicelled, pedicels free, stout, often of unequal lengths, usually longest pedicel +/- twice as long as shortest pedicel. Spikelet 6-28 mm long, usually brown, laterally to not noticeably compressed, disarticulating above glumes; glumes very unequal, chartaceous to coriaceous, 3-nerved, glabrous or coarsely hairy, hairs with black or brown tubercles, awnless or shortly awned; lower glume usually ovate or ovate-elliptic, acuminate, acute, obtuse or truncate, rarely setaceously acuminate, up to half as long as upper; upper glume linear-lanceolate or lanceolate, obtuse or truncate, less often acute and rarely setaceously acuminate, as long as or nearly as long as spikelet. Florets 2, lower floret male or rarely sterile; lemma 3-5-nerved; upper floret bisexual; lemma similar to firmer in texture than glumes, thinly coriaceous, linear to linear-lanceolate, rounded on back, 5-9-nerved, glabrous to hairy, hairs not in tufts, shortly or deeply 2-lobed, lobes obtuse or acute, awned from between 2 lobes or from apex; awn geniculate, strongly twisted below, up to 4 times as long as spikelet; callus short to long, oblong to linear, truncate, 2-toothed or obliquely pungent, hairy; palea linear to linear-lanceolate, shorter or up to as long as lemma, 2-keeled, keels with thickened nerves, wingless, membranous. Lodicules 2, linear or narrowly cuneate. Stamens 2 or 3. Ovary glabrous; styles free, plumose. Caryopsis narrowly ovoid. x= 6, 12 (polyploidy).