Arrhenatherum

oatgrass
button-grass
tall oatgrass (Arrhenatherum elatius)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Monocots
(unranked): Commelinids
Order: Poales
Family: Poaceae
Genus: Arrhenatherum
P.Beauv.
Type species
Arrhenatherum avenaceum
P.Beauv. ex Boiss.[1][2]
Synonyms[3]

Arrhenatherum, commonly called oatgrass or button-grass, is a genus of Eurasian and North African plants in grass family.[4][5][6][7]

Description

Wild forms can resemble wild oat (Avena) or fescue (Festuca). Oatgrasses are very common perennials with yellowish roots. The shining stems grow to a height of 1.5 meters, but die off in winter. The leaves are hairless with blunt ligules. The inflorescence is a panicle with two-flowered bisexual spikelets.[8]

Species[3][9]
  1. Arrhenatherum album - tall oatgrass - Mediterranean from Portugal to Cyprus
  2. Arrhenatherum calderae - Tenerife in Canary Islands
  3. Arrhenatherum elatius - false oatgrass, tall oatgrass, tall meadow oat - Eurasia + North Africa from Iceland to Canary Islands + Kazakhstan; naturalized in East Asia,[10] Australia,[11] New Zealand, the Americas[12][13]
  4. Arrhenatherum kotschyii - Turkey, Caucasus, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan
  5. Arrhenatherum longifolium - France, Spain, Portugal, Morocco
  6. Arrhennatherum palaestinum - eastern Mediterranean from Greece to Iraq
  7. Arrhenatherum pallens - Portugal
formerly included[3]

numerous species now considered better suited to other genera: Avenula Danthoniastrum Duthiea Helictochloa Helictotrichon Sphenopholis

See also

References

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