Agropyron

Belongs within: Pooideae.

Agropyron, the crested wheat-grasses, is a genus of perennial grasses native to Eurasia, though widely introduced elsewhere for pasture. Examples include couch grass A. repens which spreads by creeping rhizomes that propagate readily, leading to it becoming regarded as an invasive weed in many regions. Agropyron repens has lemma awns that are shorter than the main body of the lemma (Gardner 1952). Desert crested wheatgrass A. desertorum is a non-creeping species that is planted in North America for erosion control (Hickman 1993).

Characters (Hickman 1993): Perennial. Stem erect, gen tufted. Leaf sheath sometimes appendaged; ligule membranous; blade flat or rolled. Inflorescence spike-like, dense; axis not breaking apart in fruit; spikelets 2-ranked, strongly overlapping, 1 per node, generally spreading. Spikelet with glumes generally more or less equal, equal to or shorter than lower floret, lanceolate, keeled, acute to short-awned; axis breaking above glumes and between florets; lemma firm, acute to awn-tipped; anthers 2–5 mm.

<==Agropyron
    |--A. bakeriV72
    |--A. dasyanthemumV72
    |--A. desertorum [incl. A. cristatum, A. fragile, A. sibiricum]H93
    |--A. enysii Kirk 1895 [incl. Asprella aristata Petrie 1894]C06
    |--A. multiflorum Kirk 1897 [=Triticum multiflorum]C06
    |    |--A. m. var. multiflorumC06
    |    `--A. m. var. longisetum Hackel in Cheeseman 1906C06
    |--A. pectinatum [=Festuca pectinata, Triticum pectinatum, Vulpia pectinata; incl. T. brownei]B78
    |--A. pectiniformeV72
    |--A. repensS00 [=Elytrigia repensH93, Triticum repensC06]
    |    |--A. r. var. repensS06
    |    |--A. r. var. scabrifoliumS06
    |    `--A. r. var. vulgare Doell. 1857S06
    |--A. scabrum (Labill.) Beauv. 1812G52 (see below for synonymy)
    |--A. velutinum [=Triticum velutinum]B78
    `--A. youngii (Hook.f.) Cheeseman 1906 [=Triticum youngii]C06

Agropyron scabrum (Labill.) Beauv. 1812^G52 [=Festuca scabra^C06, Triticum scabrum^C06, Vulpia scabra^B78; incl. Anthosachne australasica^B78, Festuca billardieri^B78, Vulpia brauniana^B78, Agropyron scabrum var. breviseta^B78, Festuca browniana^B78, Vulpia browniana^B78, F. rectiseta^B78, V. rectiseta^B78, Agropyron squarrosum^A27]

*Type species of generic name indicated

References

[A27] Andersen, J. C. 1927. Popular names of New Zealand plants. Part 2. Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute 57: 905–977.

[B78] Bentham, G. 1878. Flora Australiensis: A description of the plants of the Australian Territory vol. 7. Roxburghiaceae to Filices. L. Reeve & Co.: London.

[C06] Cheeseman, T. F. 1906. Manual of the New Zealand Flora. John Mackay, Government Printer: Wellington.

[G52] Gardner, C. A. 1952. Flora of Western Australia vol. 1 pt 1. Gramineae. William H. Wyatt: Perth.

[H93] Hickman, J. C. (ed.) 1993. The Jepson Manual: Higher Plants of California. University of California Press: Berkeley (California).

[S00] Siddiqi, M. R. 2000. Tylenchida: Parasites of plants and insects 2^nd ed. CABI Publishing: Wallingford (UK).

[S06] Stuckert, T. 1906. Segunda contribución al conocimiento de las gramináceas Argentinas. Anales del Museo Nacional de Buenos Aires, serie 3, 6: 409–555.

[V72] Voss, E. G. 1972. Michigan Flora. Part I. Gymnosperms and Monocots. Cranbrook Institute of Science and University of Michigan Herbarium.