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Info
Subfamily: Pooideae
Genus etymology: Briza = "nod" [Greek] refering to the drooping florets
Species etymology: minor = "lesser" [Latin] refering to the small size
Photosynthetic type: C3 (cool season)
Nativity: naturalized - accidental
First recorded in Hawaiʻi: 1838
Map
Inflorescence
Spikelets
Description
Plants annual. Culms 7.5-80 cm. Leaves evenly distributed; sheaths 1/2-1/4 the length of the internodes, open to near the base, margins hyaline distally; ligules 4-13 mm, sides sometimes decurrent, margins at the base sometimes encasing the culms, truncate to acute; blades 5.5-12 cm long, 1-8(10) mm wide, slightly scabrous. Panicles (2)4-14(18) cm long, to 11 cm wide; pedicels 4-12 mm. Spikelets (2)3-4(7) mm, triangular to oval, with 4-7(13) florets. Lower glumes 2-2.5 mm; upper glumes 2-3.5 mm; lowermost lemmas 1.6-2 mm, frequently irregular in shape, becoming hyaline distally, glabrous, sometimes minutely scurfy, veins indistinct; paleas about 1.5 mm, often minutely scurfy; anthers 0.4-0.5 mm. Caryopses 0.8-1 mm, ovoid. 2n = 10, 14.
(Description source: Barkworth, M.E., Capels, K.M. & Long, S. (eds.) 1993. Flora of North America, north of Mexico. Volume 24. Magnoliophyta: Commelinidae (in part): Poaceae, Part 1. Oxford University Press, New York. 911 pp. http://floranorthamerica.org/Briza_minor )
Annuals; culms slender, up to 75 cm tall. Sheaths loose, striate, nodes glabrous, with a few scattered hairs below, ca. 5 cm long; ligule membranous, ca. 3 mm long; blades linear, up to 7.5 cm long, up to 4 mm wide, margins minutely scaberulous, base subcordate. Inflorescence a loose panicle up to 10 cm long, up to 8 cm wide, the branches ascending to erect, filiform, ultimate ones apparently dichotomously branched, each ending in a drooping spikelet; spikelets many-flowered, laterally compressed; first glume at right angles to rachilla, boatshaped, ca. 2.4 mm long, median portion 3- nerved, margins scarious, apex rounded; second glume ca. 2.4 mm long; first lemma ca. 1.5 mm long, base cordate, widely clasping; palea 2-nerved, winged, nerves ciliate. Caryopsis brown, boat-shaped, pointed, ca. 1 mm long. [2n = 10, 14.]
(Description source: O’Connor, P.J. 1990. Poaceae, pp. 1481–1604. In: Wagner W.L., Herbst D.R. & Sohmer S.H. (eds.)., Manual of the flowering plant of Hawaiʻi. Vol. 2. University of Hawaii Press & Bishop Museum Press, Honolulu )