1. GRASS GENERA II (Spikelets with Two or More Florets)

2. (Exceptions: Panicoid Spikelet)
e.g., Cenchrus, Digitaria, Echinochloa, Eriochloa, Panicum,
Paspalum, Setaria, Urochloa

3. (Exceptions: (Inflorescence with Rames)
e.g., Bothriochloa, Schizachyrium, Sorghum

4. I) TALL ORNAMENTALS

5. Cortaderia selloana (Pampas Grass)

6. Arundo donax (Giant Reed)

7. II) STOLONIFEROUS MAT-FORMERS

8. Dasyochloa pulchella (Fluffgrass)
Spikelets very pubescent
Low, prostrate perennial
Leaf blades white-edged
Stoloniferous

9. Munroa squarrosa (False Buffalo-Grass)
All florets in spikelets perfect
Leaves wide, reflexed

10. III) INFLORESCENCE UNBRANCHED SPIKES

11. Agropyron (Crested Wheatgrass)
Spikelets strongly overlapping
Spikelets diverge from rachis
at a 40o angle
(Compare with Elymus)

12. Elymus (Rye Grass)

13. Elymus (Ryegrass)
More than one Floret per Spikelet

14. Elymus (Ryegrass)
(Cespitose or Rhizomatous)

15. Elymus (Ryegrass)
Cartilaginous Ligule

16. Elymus (One Spikelet per Node)
Rhizomatous
E. hispidus (Pubescent
Wheatgrass)
E. lanceolatus (Thickspike
E. repens (Quackgrass)
E. smithii (Western Wheatgrass)
Cespitose (Clump-Forming)
E. arizonicus (Arizona Wheatgrass)
E. elongatus (Tall Wheatgrass)
E. spicatus (Bluebunch Wheatgrass)
E. trachycaulus (Wheatgrass)

17. Elymus (More than One Spikelet per Node)
Rachis Fragile
E. longifolius (Long-Leaved
Squirrel Tail)
Rachis Persistent; Awns Straight
E. glaucus (Blue Wildrye)
Rachis Persistent; Awns Curved
E. canadensis (Canada Wildrye)

18. Elymus longifolius (= Sitanion hystrix) (Long-leaved Squirrel Tail)
Common perennial
Fragile Rachis

19. Scleropogon (Burrograss)
Stolons

20. Pleuraphis (Tobosa; Galleta)
Rhizomatous
Spikelets three at nodes
Apex of glumes, lemmas blunt to dull-pointed

21. Pleuraphis P. mutica (Tobosa) Glumes broadest above middle
P. jamesii (Galleta)
Glumes broadest at middle

22. Hilaria berlangeri (Curly Mesquite)
Plants similar to Pleuraphis, but stoloniferous

23. IV) INFLORESCENCE WITH SPICIFORM BRANCHES

24. Bouteloua Spicate branches one-sided
Spicate branches arranged in a raceme
Spicate branches one-sided

25. Bouteloua (annual) B. aristoides B. simplex (Needle Grama) B. barbata
(Mat Grama)
B. barbata
(Six-Weeks Grama)

26. Bouteloua (Perennial) (Spicate branches fifteen or more)
B. curtipendula (Side-oats grama)

27. Bouteloua (Perennial) (Spicate branches thirteen or fewer)
B. hirsuta
(hairy grama)
B. gracilis
(blue grama)
B. eriopoda
(black grama)

28. Bouteloua gracilis (Blue Grama)
(High Forage Value, Increaser with Grazing)
Cespitose
Glabrous Internodes

29. Bouteloua eriopoda (Black Grama)
(High Forage Value, Decreaser with Grazing)
Stoloniferous
Hairy Lower Internodes

30. Bouteloua dactyloides (=Buchloe dactyloides)
Buffalo Grass
Spike of Male Spikelets

31. Leptochloa (Green Sprangletop)
Spicate branches arranged in a raceme
Spicate branches two- or more sided

32. Chloris (Windmill Grass)
Spicate branches arranged in an umbel
Florets dimorphic within each spikelet

33. Chloris *C. virgata (Showy Windmill Grass) *C. verticillata
(Tumble Windmill Grass)

34. V) INFLORESCENCE A RACEME OR PANICLE

35. Eragrostis (Lovegrass, Stinkgrass)

36. Eragrostis
Hairy Ligule
Open Sheath

37. Eragrostis Spikelets usually lead/gray
Florets closely imbricate (= closely
overlapping)
Lemmas three-nerved
Paleas often persisent on rachilla (i.e., they
don’t fall off when lemmas do)

38. Eragrostis (annual weeds)
*E. cilianensis
E. pectinacea

39. Eragrostis (perennials)
E. curvula (Weeping Lovegrass)
E. intermedia (Plains Lovegrass)

40. Bromus (Bromegrass; Cheatgrass)

41. Bromus
Cartilaginous Ligule
Closed Sheath

42. Bromus
Spikelets Bright Green
Multiple Florets /
Spikelet

43. Bromus – (Annual) *B. tectorum (Downy Chess)
*B. japonicus (Japanese Brome)

44. Bromus - Perennial
Rhizomatous
* B. inermis (Smooth Brome)

45. Bromus – Perennial Flattened Spikelets *B. cartharticus (Rescue Grass)
Cespitose
Flattened Spikelets
*B. cartharticus (Rescue Grass)

46. Bromus – Perennial Spikelets Not Flattened Cespitose
B. anomalous (Nodding Brome), B. ciliatus (Fringed Brome)
B. frondosus (Weeping Brome), B. porteri (Porter’s Brome)

47. *Dactylis (Orchard Grass)
Compact, Contracted Panicle

48. Dactylis (Orchard Grass)
Tall Cartilaginous
Ligule
Closed Sheath

49. Festuca (Fescue)
Poa (Bluegrass)

50. Open Sheath, Cartilaginous Ligule
Poa
Festuca

51. Festuca (Fescues)
Open Sheath
Cartilaginous Ligule

52. Festuca
Glabrous Florets
Awn-Tipped Lemmas

53. Festuca Leaves flat, wider than 3 mm wide*
F. arundinacea (tall fescue)
F. pratensis (meadow fescue)
Wide-Leaved Festucas now
placed in Schedonorus

54. Festuca * F. arizonica (Arizona fescue) Leaves rolled,
F. ovina (blue fescue)
F. rubra (red fescue)
Leaves rolled,
< 3 mm wide

55. Poa (Bluegrass; Muttongrass)
Open Sheath;
Cartilaginous Ligule
Upper
“Boat-Shaped” Leaf

56. Poa (Bluegrass; Muttongrass)
No Awns
Pubescent Florets
(Usually)

57. Poa Lawn Grasses P. pratensis (Kentucky bluegrass)
P. compressa (Canada bluegrass)
Lawn Grasses

58. Poa
Forest, Woodland Grasses
P. fendleriana (Muttongrass)

59. Koeleria (Junegrass)

60. Koeleria macrantha Inflorescence a contracted panicle
A perennial cool-season grass
found in woodlands and forests at
mid- to upper elevations

61. Vulpia octoflora (Six-Weeks Fescue)
Inflorescence a narrow
raceme or panicle
A low ANNUAL grass of
dry, disturbed land

62. Vulpia

63. Enneapogon (Pappusgrass)
Inflorescence a contracted panicle
Lemma with multiple cobwebby
awns

64. Enneapogon (Pappusgrass)
Grass of the Chihuahuan desert

65. WHO AM I?

66. WHO AM I?

67. WHO AM I?

68. WHO AM I?
Spike of Male Spikelets

69. WHO AM I?

70. WHO AM I?

71. WHO AM I?

72. WHO AM I?

73. WHO AM I?

74. WHO AM I?

75. WHO AM I?

76. WHO AM I?

77. WHO AM I?

78. WHO AM I?

79. WHO AM I?

80. WHO AM I?

81. (Annual; Flowers in March-April)
WHO AM I?
(Annual; Flowers in March-April)

82. WHO AM I?
(Stolons)

83. Grasses with ≥ 2 Florets per Spikelet*
A) Tall Ornamentals: Arundo, Cortaderia
B) Stoloniferous Mat Formers: Dasyochloa, Munroa
C) Inflorescence Unbranched Spikes: Agropyron,
Elymus, Pleuraphis, Hilaria
D) Inflorescence with Spiciform Branches: Bouteloua,
Chloris, Leptochloa
E) Inflorescence a Raceme of Panicle: Eragrostis,
Bromus, Dactylis, Festuca, Poa, Koeleria,
Vulpia, Enneapogon
*[Excluded: Panicoid Grasses and Grasses with Rames]