X
Keyed in multiple places:

Click the number at the start of a key lead to highlight both that lead and its corresponding lead. Click again to show only the two highlighted leads. Click a third time to return to the full key with the selected leads still highlighted.

Click images to enlarge and show more photo credit.

Key to Poaceae, Key D: rattail or cob grasses

Poaceae

Copy permalink to share | Check for keys that lead to this key

1 All spikelets unisexual, the pistillate and staminate spikelets either in separate inflorescences, or the pistillate spikelets below the staminate spikelets in the same inflorescence; leaves 9-120 mm wide; [tribe Andropogoneae].
1 Some spikelets bisexual; leaves 1-25 mm wide.
    3 Spikelets with 2-7 florets, the lower bisexual and fertile, the upper sometimes sterile; [tribe Triticeae]
    3 Spikelets with at most 2 florets, the lower staminate or sterile, the upper bisexual, staminate, or sterile.
      4 Culms 2-45 cm tall; leaves 1-6 mm wide; plants annual (perennial in Eremochloa and Stenotaphrum).
        5 Plants annual; lower glume with smooth and cartilaginous margins (or absent); [rare waifs]; [tribe Poeae].
        5 Plants obviously and prominently rhizomatous (Eremochloa) or stoloniferous (Stenotaphrum); lower glume with pectinate margins (Eremochloa) or irregularly toothed (Stenotaphrum)
          6 Plant rhizomatous; lower glume with pectinate margins; [commonly naturalized turf grass and roadside weed]; [tribe Andropogoneae]
          6 Plant stoloniferous; lower glume irregularly toothed; [naturalized turf grass and allegedly also native]; [tribe Paniceae]
      4 Culms 30-400 cm tall; leaves 2-25 mm wide; plants annual or perennial; [tribe Andropogoneae].
               8 Pedicels at least partially fused to the rame axes
                 9 Sheaths mostly glabrous (sparsely ciliate towards the base); plants perennial
                 9 Sheaths with stiff, papillose-based hairs 1-3 mm long; plants annual
Click images to enlarge and show more photo credit.

Key to Poaceae, Key G: wheat grasses of tribe Triticeae (and a few unrelated mimics)

Copy permalink to share | Check for keys that lead to this key

1 Spikelets 2-7 at all or most nodes; [tribe Triticeae].
  2 Spikelets 2-5 at each node (if 3, all 3 sessile).
  2 Spikelets 3 at each node (the central spikelets usually sessile, the lateral pedicellate)
1 Spikelets 1 at all or most nodes (occasionally in pairs at lowest nodes).
    3 Spikelets borne on peduncles 0.5-2 mm long; [tribe Brachypodieae]
      4 Spikelets (not including the awns) > 3× as long as the rachis internodes, strongly divergent (at nearly 90° to the rachis); [very rare exotic]; [tribe Triticeae]
      4 Spikelets (not including the awns) < 3× as long as the rachis internodes.
        5 Glumes subulate to narrowly lanceolate or linear, narrowing from below midlength, with 1 vein throughout or at least distally (sometimes 1-3 veins at midlength in Pascopyrum); [tribe Triticeae]
(c) Powell, Eric M - CC-BY-NC, permission granted to NCBG
(c) Wright, Janet - CC-BY-NC, permission granted to NCBG
          6 Awns long, 12-26 (-35) mm; glumes keeled; spikelets with 2 (-3) florets
          6 Awns short, 5 mm or less in length; glumes not keeled; spikelets with 2-12 florets
        5 Glumes broader, narrowing from beyond midlength, with 3-9 veins at midlength.
             7 Spikelets placed edgewise to the rachis; first glume lacking except in the terminal spikelet; [tribe Poeae]
             7 Spikelets placed flatwise to the rachis; first glume present; [tribe Triticeae].
               8 Plants annuals; glumes often with lateral teeth or awns; glumes rounded or keeled; [exotics, rare out of cultivation].
                 9 Glumes rounded; spikelets in some species embedded into the thickened rachis
               8 Plants perennials; glumes without lateral teeth or awns; glumes keeled; [natives or exotics].
                   10 Glumes acute to acuminate (and often awned); [common natives and exotics]