| Multitribe: Answers to key questions
leading to this tribe.
| Mature inflorescence, if breaking into units, then the units not as
below; NOT [Mature inflorescence breaking into spikelet units consisting
of a sessile fertile spikelet, a hairy pedicel with or without a sterile
spikelet at tip, and a hairy rachis joint, all arising at the same point
(a node) in specialized panicle branches called rames] |
| Spikelets not as below; sterile florets if present, either located
distal to the fertile floret(s) on the rachilla or paired and attached
at the base of a single fertile floret, not paired with the upper glume
as below; lemma and palea variously textured, enclosing the flower or
not; disarticulation usually above the glumes; NOT [Spikelets usually
dorsally compressed, appearing 1-flowered but containing 1 fertile
floret and 1 sterile floret, the latter attached to the base of fertile
floret opposite the upper glume, resembling the upper glume, and
together with the upper glume enveloping the fertile floret; lower
glumes minute (sometimes absent) to 3/4 as long as upper glumes and
typically wrapping most of the way around the pedicel at base; fertile
floret seed-like with chartaceous-indurate lemma and palea enclosing
flower and fruit; disarticulation below the glumes with rare exceptions] |
| Spikelets 1 to many-flowered, subtended by a pair of glumes (only 1 on
lateral spikelets in Lolium); palea margins enclosed or not; plants of
dry or wet habitats; NOT [Spikelets 1-flowered, lacking glumes; margins
of the palea tightly enclosed by the lemma margins on female or perfect
florets; plants of wetlands, often emergent aquatic] |
| Inflorescence not as below; if a terminal spike, then the lateral
spikelets attached edgewise to the rachis with inner (upper) glume
wanting (as in Lolium); NOT [Inflorescence a terminal spike with sessile
or subsessile spikelets attached broadside at nodes on opposite sides of
the rachis] |
| Lemmas and lemma awns not as below; if lemma indurate and enveloping
the floret, then glumes distinctly dorsally compressed and calluses
glabrous (as in Milium); NOT [Lemmas stiff to indurate, firmer than the
glumes, surrounding the palea and often overlapping along the margins,
closed at the tip as well as at the base, often pubescent; lemma awns
(caducous or wanting in some species) terete and encircled at the base
by the closed tip of the lemma; calluses usually pubescent, rarely
glabrous]
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|
| Group3: Answers to key questions
leading to this group.
| If plants mat-forming, then inflorescences not as below; NOT
[Mat-forming annuals or perennials either with clusters of spikelets
hidden by sharp-pointed leaves at branch tips, or with pistillate
inflorescences consisting of burs partially hidden within expanded leaf
sheaths with only the staminate inflorescences exceeding the upper
leaves] |
| Inflorescence not as below, the spikelets usually on pedicels in
panicles that range from spike-like to open; if spikelets sessile, then
they either have more than 1 fertile floret per spikelet or are not
arranged like the teeth of a comb; NOT [Inflorescence consisting of
spike-like panicle branches with sessile- subsessile, closely imbricate,
regularly-spaced, parallel spikelets all directed toward 1 side of the
branch like the teeth of a comb (loosely so in Bouteloua curtipendula);
fertile florets 1 per spikelet] |
| Spikelets with more than 1 fertile floret; sterile florets if present,
attached above the fertile florets (Phragmites, with sterile florets
attached above and below fertile florets, is an exception); NOT
[Spikelets with 1 fertile floret; sterile florets if present, attached
above or below the fertile floret]
|
| Koeleria: Answers to key questions
leading to this genus.
| Inflorescence a panicle with all spikelets subtended by 2 glumes; NOT
[Inflorescence a terminal spike; lateral spikelets positioned edgewise
to the rachis and lacking a glume on inside edge] |
| Spikelets usually pedicellate; if sessile-subsessile, then not
arranged as below; NOT [Spikelets sessile or subsessile on spike-like
panicle branches, or on short secondary branches in dense one-sided
clusters at branch tips] |
| Rachillas glabrous or pubescent; if pubescent, then hairs much shorter
than the lemmas; panicles and plants not as below; NOT [Rachillas with
silky hairs (4) 6-10 mm long, as long as the lemmas or nearly so;
panicles 15-35 (45) cm long, 8-20 cm wide at maturity, dense, feathery;
plants 10-30 (40) dm tall, with stout, creeping rhizomes and often
forming dense stands] |
| Glumes < 17 mm long; if glumes longer, then plants perennial; NOT
[Glumes 18-32 mm long, usually exceeding the lemmas; plants annual] |
| Plants without the below combination of characteristics; NOT [Culm
sheaths closed to near summit; leaf blades flat; spikelets 12-40 (55) mm
long; lemmas 7-14 (21) mm long, usually awned, the awns terminal or
subterminal; calluses glabrous; ovaries and caryopses with pubescent
apical appendage; caryopses adnate to paleas at maturity] |
| Plants without the below combination of characteristics; NOT [Rachilla
conspicuously pubescent with straight hairs; calluses bearded; spikelet
2 (3-4) flowered; lemma 2-4 toothed, sometimes obscurely so, sometimes
entire; lemma awns attached dorsally or just below apex, often exceeding
the lemma apex by only 1-2 mm (awn may be absent in Trisetum wolfii)] |
| Lemmas unawned or awned; if awns present, then the awns straight and
terminal or subterminal, and the calluses glabrous or with short, sparse
hairs; NOT [Lemmas awned, the awns 3-17 mm long, slightly outcurving or
geniculate, attached dorsally about midlength, or at base of 0.5-8 mm
long apical teeth; calluses with dense or long hairs] |
| Lemmas with 5 - 11 visibly-raised nerves or nerves too obscure to
count; NOT [Lemmas with 3 visibly-raised nerves (1 midnerve and 2
lateral nerves)] |
| Lemmas not as below, either keeled, or with obscure nerves or nerves
converging distally; calluses glabrous or pubescent; NOT [Lemmas rounded
or weakly keeled on the back, with 5-11 visibly- raised nerves that are
+/- parallel their full length, their tips not converging distally;
calluses glabrous] |
| Plants not as below; NOT [Plants low (to 4 (6) dm high), halophytic,
dioecious perennials with scaly, stout, creeping, much-branched
rhizomes; leaf blades strongly 2-ranked, 1-12 (20) cm long, reaching or
exceeding at least the panicles; lemmas of flowers coriaceous, closely
imbricate; caryopses long-beaked, the dark tip often visible between the
pale-colored lemma and palea] |
| Plants growing in dry or wet habitats but not typically in water;
rhizomes present or absent; culms slender and not particularly spongy at
base; other features various; NOT [Plants growing in shallow water or
wetlands; rhizomes extensive, creeping, thick, soft, succulent; culms
thick (6 - 8 mm wide) and spongy at base; leaf sheaths open, large,
papery, +/- inflated, the lower sheaths often cross-septate with air
chambers; calluses densely bearded; lemma unawned but sometimes with
nerves excurrent at tip] |
| Glumes not as below; disarticulation above the glumes; other features
various; NOT [Upper and
lower glumes markedly dissimilar in shape, the lower glume subulate to
linear and less than 1/3 as wide as the upper; the upper glume
oblanceolate to obovate, and about 1/2 as wide to nearly as wide as
long; spikelets 2-4 mm long, 2-3-flowered; disarticulation below the
glumes with the distal floret sometimes falling before the spikelet] |
| Spikelets (1) 2-3
(4)-flowered; upper glume as long as the lowest lemma and sometimes
reaching the tip of the distal lemma, 3-4 (5.5) mm long; rachises and
panicle branches densely puberulent to villose; sheath open to base; NOT
[Spikelets (1) 2-11 (15)-flowered; upper glume length various but if
reaching the tip of the distal lemma, then glumes (6) 7-8.5 (9.5) mm
long; rachises and panicle branches scabrous on the angles or smooth but
not pubescent; sheaths open or closed part way] |
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