Spikelets solitary at each node of the spike, several-fld, placed edge-wise to the rachis, the edge fitting into a concavity; disarticulation above the glumes and between the lemmas; first glume none except in the terminal spikelet; second glume (on the side away from the rachis) narrowly lance-oblong, strongly 3-11-veined; lemmas rounded on the back, herbaceous or subcoriaceous, obtuse to acute, awned from the tip or awnless, 3-7-veined, the intermediate veins usually obscure; palea thin; lvs flat, spikes elongate, the summit of each spikelet seldom reaching the base of the next one above it on the same side. 7, temp. Eurasia.

Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

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