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ORYZOPSIS Michx. Ricegrass
Plants hermaphroditic, caespitose, perennial. Culms erect or ascending, nodes glabrous; internodes hollow or solid, terete.
Leaves basal, not distinctly distichous; sheaths terete, margins open; auricles absent; ligules membranous; blades flat or
folded or involute, not pungent, linear, lax. Panicles open or narrow or contracted; primary branches ascending,
terminating in a spikelet. Spikelets solitary, terete. or laterally compressed, awned, pedicellate,
disarticulation above glumes; florets 1, reduced floret absent, callus bearded (blunt), rachilla not extended beyond
floret; glumes 2, 3-7-veined (acute), equal, longer than floret, glabrous or hairy; lemmas 3-5-veined, coriaceous
or indurate, margins overlapping and concealing palea or margins not completely overlapping; glabrous or hairy, apex
obscurely bilobed, awn (1) apical, wavy or geniculate; paleas 2-veined (but without keels) flat, one-third to nearly
equal to lemma, awnless, glabrous.
Stamens 3; anthers yellow or yellow with purple tinge. Caryopses terete. Base chromosome number x=11.
A temperate or subtropical genus of about 35 species. The species are usually from open habitats (rarely
shade), and occur in mesic to xeric regions.
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