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ROSTRARIA Trin.
Plants hermaphroditic, caespitose, annual. Culms erect, glabrous to hirsute; internodes hollow, terete.
Leaves basal, not distinctly distichous; sheaths terete, margins open; auricles absent; ligules membranous;
blades flat or folded, linear, lax. Panicles contracted, primary branches ascending. Spikelets
solitary, laterally compressed, disarticulation above glumes, awned, pedicellate; florets 4-6,
reduced florets at apex, callus glabrous; rachilla not extended beyond upper floret; glumes 2, first
1-veined, second inconspicuously 3-5-veined, nearly equal, glabrous, awnless; lemmas 3-5-veined
(inconspicuous), membranous with hyaline margins, glabrous or pubescent, apex minutely bifid; awns
present, straight, veins glabrous to scabrous; paleas 2-veined mucronate or short awned, glabrous. Stamens 3;
anthers yellow. Caryopses laterally compressed with liquid endosperm. Base chromosome number x=7 (2n=26).
A temperate genus of about 10 species. These annual species derived from Koeleria. The species have a
well developed lemma awns. The species occur in dry weedy sites, originally from the Mediterranean and Middle
East.
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