Citation: Sw., Prod. 1:25 (1788).

Synonymy: Not Applicable

Common name: Windmill grasses.

Description:
Perennials or annuals, usually glabrous; leaf blade flat or folded; ligule membranous.

Inflorescence of spikes in an umbel or less often a raceme; spikelets with 1 bisexual floret, sessile or shortly pedicellate, arranged alternately in 2 rows on 1 side of the slender rhachis of the spikes, straw-coloured or verging to purple; glumes 2, unequal, narrow, l-nerved, keeled, persistent; fertile (lower) lemma laterally compressed, 3-nerved, the lateral nerves close to the margins, with a straight terminal or subterminal slender awn; above the bisexual floret are 1 or more stalked male or empty terminal lemmas, the stalk or stipes consisting of the rhachilla produced upwards behind the palea of the perfect floret; callus short, bearded.

Distribution:  About 40 species from warm and temperate areas. (Key adapted from Lazarides (1972) Aust. J. Bot. suppl, ser. 5).

Biology: No text

Key to Species:

1. Callus c. 2.5 mm long, pungent; imperfect florets usually 4 or 5; lemmas scarious, conspicuously expanded with wing-like margins, 5-7-nerved	C. scariosa 3.
1. Callus minute, obtuse; imperfect florets usually 1-3; lemmas membranous or cartilaginous, not expanded, usually 3-nerved
2. Spikelets blunt at the apex; imperfect floret(s) obtuse or truncate, notched or obscurely lobed, usually inflated
3. Lemma of fertile (lowest) floret ciliate or sparsely pubescent on the lower part of the margins
4. Lemma of lowest floret ciliate on the upper part of the margins with hairs to 1 mm long; florets 3 or 4	C. gayana 1.
4. Lemma of lower floret bearded on the upper part of the margins with hairs 2-3 mm long; florets 2	C. virgata 5.
3. Lemma of fertile (lowest) floret glabrous on the lower part of the margins	C. truncata 4.
2. Spikelets narrowed at the apex; imperfect floret(s) acute or acuminate, deeply divided into 2 lobes, not inflated	C. pectinata 2.

Author: Not yet available