Phleum

Phleum is a genus of herbaceous plants belonging to the Poaceae family. It is native to Eurasia and the United States.

Description

They are perennial plants. Leaves with sheaths with free margins; obtuse ligule; blade flat with striated upper surface. Inflorescence in a spiciform panicle, dense, with branches almost entirely welded to the rachis. Spikelets very compressed laterally, with 1 single flower articulated with the rachilla. Glumes longer than the flower, subequal, three-veined, markedly keeled. Rachilla not prolonged above the flower, Lemma with 5 slightly marked nerves, membranous. Palea as long as the lemma, with 2 veins. bilobed lodicules. Ovary glabrous. Ovoid caryopsis. Elliptical thread.

Taxonomy

The genus was described by Carlos Linnaeus and published in Species Plantarum 1. 59. 1753.

Etymology

Phleum: Generic name derived from the Greek word phleos, a kind of reed or grass.

Cytology

It has a chromosome number of: x = 7. 2n = 10 (rarely), or 14, or 28, or 42. 2, 4, and 6 ploidies. ‘Large’ chromosomes.

Species