|
|
|
Phalaris Linn., Sp. Pl. 1:54. 1753. Boiss., Fl. Or. 5:471. 1884; Hook.f., Fl. Brit. Ind. 7: 220. 1896; Bor, Fl. Assam 5:165. 1940; Sultan & Stewart, Grasses W. Pak. 2: 366. 1959; Bor, Grasses Burma Ceyl. Ind. Pak. 615. 1960; Anderson in Iowa State J. Sci. 36: 1-96. 1961; Bor in Towns., Guest & Al-Rawi, Fl. Iraq 9:361. 1968; Bor in Rech. f., Fl. Iran. 70:345. 1970; Tzvelev, Poaceae URSS 357. 1976; Tutin in Tutin et al., Fl. Eur. 5:244. 1980.
Annuals or perennials. Leaf-blades linear; ligule membranous. Inflorescence a contracted or spike-like panicle. Spikelets all alike (rarely in clusters of 6 or 7, only 1 of which is fertile), bisexual, 3-flowered with the 2 lower florets reduced, disarticulating above the glumes at maturity; glumes subequal, usually glabrous, papery, boat-shaped, keeled, the keel often broadened into a wing, enclosing the florets; sterile florets up to about half as long as the fertile lemma, subulate or chaffy, usually pubescent, sometimes one or both reduced to a fleshy scale at the base of the fertile floret; fertile lemma glabrous or pubescent, often shiny, laterally compressed, indurated, awnless; stamens 3.
A genus of 15 species throughout the world. Only 2 species are native to Pakistan, but several have been introduced, mainly in bird-seed.
Phalaris brachystachys Link is a Mediterranean species admitted to the Pakistan flora in Stewart’s Annotated Catalogue (1972) on the basis of two incorrectly identified specimens. These plants are now known to be Phalaris canariensis. No other specimens of Phalaris brachystachys are known so it probably does not in fact occur in Pakistan.
|
|
|
|
| 1 |
Spikelets in clusters of 6 or 7 only one of which is fertile |
|
Phalaris paradoxa |
| + |
Spikelets solitary, not in clusters of 6 or 7, and all of them fertile |
|
(2) |
| |
|
|
|
| 2 (1) |
Sterile floret 1, well-developed or rarely obsolete |
|
(3) |
| + |
Sterile florets 2 |
|
(4) |
| |
|
|
|
| 3 (2) |
Sterile floret obsolete (less than 0.3 mm long) or well-developed (more than 0.5 mm long); glume wings usually toothed or erose; annual plants with non-bulbous culm bases |
|
Phalaris minor |
| + |
Sterile floret well-developed (more than 0.5 mm long); glume wings usually entire; perennial plants from a dense crown; culm bases sometimes bulbous |
|
Phalaris aquatica |
| |
|
|
|
| 4 (2) |
Sterile florets unequal, the longer 1-2.2 mm long, the shorter less than 0.5 mm long |
|
Phalaris aquatica |
| + |
Sterile florets equal or nearly so |
|
(5) |
| |
|
|
|
| 5 (4) |
Sterile florets broad and chaffy, not subulate, more than half as long as the fertile lemma |
|
Phalaris canariensis |
| + |
Sterile florets subulate, usually less than half as long as the fertile lemma |
|
Phalaris arundinacea |
|
|
|
Lower Taxa
Related Synonym(s):
| Related Links (opens in a new window) |
|
Treatments in Other Floras @ www.efloras.org
Other Databases
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
