| 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]
|
|
| 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]
|
| Puccinellia: 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) 2-11 (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; NOT [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] |
| Lemmas lacking mucros or awns; glumes distinctly shorter than the
lemmas, and plants lacking auricles; NOT [Lemmas mucronate or awned from
the tip except sometimes lacking awns and mucros in plants with glumes
reaching the tip of the distal lemma and in plants with soft auricles
present on leaves at base of plant] |
| Lemmas rounded on back, 1.5-3 mm long; lemma tips finely erose;
calluses with a few short hairs of irregular lengths; NOT [Lemmas
usually keeled, sometimes rounded on the back; if rounded, then lemmas
>= 3.5 mm long; lemma tips entire; calluses either glabrous or
pubescent with curly or pleated hairs (a web) or with dense straight
hairs (a crown)]
|
|
| Distans: Answers to key questions
leading to this species
| Lemmas 1.5 - 2 (2.2) mm long; lemma apex broadly obtuse or truncate;
upper glumes 0.9 - 1.8 mm long, usually ovate to broadly ovate or
obovate; anthers 0.4 - 0.8 mm long; lower panicle branches widely
spreading to reflexed; spikelets borne on distal 1/2 of branch; NOT
[Lemmas 2 - 3 mm long; lemma apex broadly acute to obtuse; upper glumes
1 - 2.8 mm long, usually lanceolate to broadly lanceolate; anthers 0.6 -
2 mm long; lower panicle branches usually erect to spreading, seldom
reflexed; spikelets borne to base of branch or on the distal 2/3 |
|
|