Description

Key Characters:

Growth Form: Coarse perennials.

Stems: Culms tufted, 6–30 dm tall, internodes solid or hollow.

Roots: Fibrous root system.

Leaves: Leaves simple. Alternate. Blades narrow, linear. Margins entire. Veins parallel. Sheathing, ligule membranous, margins sometimes ciliate. Stipules absent.

Flowers: Flowers in inflorescences of numerous short racemes, each bearing 3–6 spikelets arising from a small sheath and arranged in densely branched groups arising from the upper leaf sheaths, usually drooping. spikelets paired, the lowest 2 pairs alike, staminate or sterile, subopposite on the rachis and forming an involucre surrounding the upper 2 spikelets, one of these spikelets sessile and perfect, the other one pedicellate and staminate or sterile, the upper 2 spikelets attached above the lower spikelet pairs, caducous; sessile spikelet 2–flowered, terete (cylindrical), +/- awned, first floret reduced to an empty lemma, the lemma hyaline, nerveless, callus usually acute to pungent, densely bearded, the beard at least partly concealing the adjacent joint and pedicel bases, second floret perfect, glumes equal, coriaceous except at the submembranous tips, first glume tightly involute, obscurely nerved, second glume with a deep longitudinal groove on each side, 3–nerved, lemma stipe-like, the base hyaline, 1–nerved, cartilaginous upwards, +/- awned, palea hyaline, nerveless; involucral spikelets dorsally much compressed, awnless, florets 0–2, first floret sterile, reduced to a lemma, second floret staminate or sterile, first glume herbaceous, 2–keeled, second glume membranous or rarely absent, lemma hyaline, palea +/- present; pedicellate spikelets similar to those of the involucral spikelets, but narrower. Stamens 3 (when present). Ovary superior.

Fruit: Caryopsis linear–obovoid; subterete.

Ploidy:

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