Citation: L., Sp. Pl. 73 (1753).

Derivation: Latin name of a weed which grew among the barley.

Synonymy: Not Applicable

Common name: Fescaes.

Description:
Glabrous perennial herbs; leaf blade flat to cylindrical or reduced to scales; ligule scarious.

Inflorescence a panicle; spikelets several-flowered; rhachilla disarticulating between the florets; glumes narrow, keeled, persistent, shorter than the florets, the first usually 1-nerved, the second 3-nerved; lemmas rounded on the back at least in the lower part, the upper part often keeled, 5-7-nerved, rarely 9-11-nerved, acute or tapering into a short straight awn; awn terminal or nearly so.

Distribution:  About 80 species, cosmopolitan; about 20 in Australia.

Biology: No text

Key to Species:

1. Leaves of sterile shoots cylindrical, of culms sometimes flat but less than 3 mm broad
2. Leaves rigid, as long as the stems	F. littoralis 3.
2. Leaves flexible, much shorter than the stems
3. Panicle branches solitary; awn 1-2 mm long	F. rubra 5.
3. Panicle branches twin; awn 5-15 mm long	F. benthamiana 2.
1. Leaves all flat, usually more than 3 mm broad
4. Panicle branches solitary or one of each pair bearing a solitary spikelet	F. pratensis 4.
4. Panicle branches at each node 2, both usually with several spikelets	F. arundinacea 1.

Author: Not yet available