POACEAE  

Annual, tufted. Leaf blade linear, expanded; ligule an unfringed membrane. Inflorescence a spike-like panicle. Spikelet 2.5-5.0 mm long, laterally compressed, variously disarticulating; glumes unequal or +/- equal, shorter to +/- equal to longer than spikelet, similar, glabrous or hairy, keeled, sometimes hairy on keel, awnless; lower glume 1-nerved; upper glume 3-nerved. Floret 2-6, all bisexual or uppermost reduced; lemma 3-7-nerved, 2-lobed, keeled, usually conspicuously 1-3-awned; awn short, straight; palea 2-lobed, 2-keeled. Lodicules 2, membranous. Stamens 3. Ovary usually glabrous. x= 6, 7, 13.

Annual or perennial (usually short-lived), tufted or culms solitary, sometimes rooting from nodes. Leaf blade linear, expanded, rolled or folded; ligule an unfringed membrane. Inflorescence a bilateral spike with spikelets sunk and lying edgeways in partial cavities on alternate sides of central axis; spikelets solitary, sessile. Spikelet laterally compressed, disarticulating above glumes; glumes unequal; lower glume absent except in terminal spikelet, rarely present and then much reduced; upper glume facing outwards, membranous, shorter than to as long as spikelet, lanceolate or linear-lanceolate, sometimes turgid in fruit, obtuse or subacute, 3-7-nerved, glabrous. Florets 2-22, bisexual or uppermost floret reduced and sterile; lemma less firm to firmer in texture to glumes, coriaceous, lanceolate or elliptic, rounded dorsally, 5-7-nerved, glabrous, acute to obtuse or awned; awn straight; palea equalling or subequalling body of lemma, somewhat thinner in texture, lanceolate, lanceolate-elliptic or lanceolate-oblong, 2-keeled. Lodicules 2, lanceolate with a lateral tooth. Stamens 3. Ovary truncate, glabrous; styles distinct, plumose. x= 7 (polyploidy).

Perennial; culms woody, stiffly geniculate, branched profusely from swollen nodes. Leaf blade linear, expanded or rolled, often spiny, hard and brittle; leaf sheath broad and papery; ligule a fringe of hairs. Inflorescence a contracted but loose panicle, branches slender, each with 2-6 spikelets; spikelets solitary or paired, pedicels unequal, hairy, contracted at base into a short stalk which fits into cup-like apex of pedicel. Spikelet 7 mm long, dorsiventrally compressed, falling with glumes; glumes +/- equal to unequal, +/- equal to longer than spikelet, dissimilar; lower glume membranous, lanceolate, obtuse or notched at apex, hairy at base, 3-nerved; upper glume ovate-lanceolate, tapering into a long awn-like apex, 5-7-nerved, long-hairy dorsally, with a transverse fringe or tufts of hairs on either side just above middle, or a continuous fringe. Florets 2; lower floret male, lemma equalling upper glume, channelled dorsally, hairy, hairs always in 2 fringes; palea well developed; upper floret bisexual; lemma +/- half as long as lower lemma, elliptic, obtuse, indurated, smooth, glossy, glabrous, faintly 5-nerved, awnless; palea relatively long. Lodicules 2, cuneate, fleshy. Stamens 3. Ovary ellipsoid; styles free, plumose. x= 9 (1 report).

Annual or perennial, tufted, stoloniferous, rhizomatous, often geniculate. Leaf blade lanceolate to linear, expanded or rolled; ligule an unfringed or fringed membrane, rarely a fringe of hairs. Inflorescence a contracted or open panicle of several, slender, 1-sided, spike-like racemes scattered along a central axis; spikelets solitary, subsessile or shortly pedicelled. Spikelet 1.9-14.0 mm long, laterally or dorsiventrally to not noticeably compressed, disarticulating above glumes and between florets; glumes unequal to +/- equal, shorter to rarely longer than spikelet, similar, membranous, lanceolate to ovate, sometimes subacuminate or notched, 1-nerved, keeled to rounded on back, mucronate to awnless. Florets 1-20, bisexual; uppermost floret sterile or reduced, often decreasing in size upwards; lemma lanceolate or oblong-elliptic to elliptic, keeled to rounded or flattened on back, less firm to similar in texture as glumes, 3-nerved, glabrous or minutely hairy along nerves and/or back or margins, single median keel present on back to not keeled, obtuse or acute to +/- truncate or 2-lobed, awnless, mucronate or awned between lobes; awn shorter than body of lemma to minute, sometimes lateral nerves excurrent into short mucros; callus short, blunt; palea almost as long as lemma, sometimes 2-lobed, 2-keeled, flat dorsally or concave between keels, glabrous to minutely or distinctly hairy, subhyaline. Lodicules 2, cuneate, fleshy, glabrous. Stamens 3. Ovary glabrous; styles distinct, plumose. Caryopsis ellipsoid to ellipsoid-oblong, laterally to dorsally compressed. x = 10 (polyploidy).

Perennial, rarely annual; tufted, often with creeping rhizomes or stoloniferous; culm slender, often geniculate and ascending. Leaf blade narrow, expanded, folded or rolled; ligule an unfringed membrane. Inflorescence a panicle, open or contracted; spikelets solitary, secund, shortly pedicelled. Spikelet unconventional and hard to interpret, strongly laterally compressed; glumes 0 or reduced to a very obscure rim at tip of pedicel. Floret 1; lemma coriaceous, not becoming indurated, boat-shaped, almost plano-convex in outline, keels rigidly ciliate, 3-5-nerved, shortly acuminate or awned; palea narrow, 3-nerved, subcartilaginous except on hyaline margins, grooved along outer nerves with keel rigidly ciliate, tightly clasped by inflexed margins of lemma. Lodicules 2, fleshy, finely nerved. Stamens (1-)6. Ovary ellipsoid, glabrous; styles distinct, plumose. x= 12 (polyploidy).