Schedonorus P.Beauv.
Type species: S. elatior (L.) P.Beauv. nom. specific. rejic.
Perennial and caespitose. Leaf-sheath split. Auricles falcate, clasping, hairy or glabrous. Ligule shortly truncate. Leaf-blade flat with many ribs. Culm unbranched, nodes glabrous. Inflorescence an open panicle of many-flowered laterally-compressed spikelets, disarticulation above glumes and between florets. Lemma lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, rounded, variously prickle-toothed; awn from between membranous apical lobes, or awnless. Rachilla prolonged. Stamens 3; anthers caudate. Ovary apex glabrous; styles subterminal. Caryopsis adherent to palea.
c. 5 spp. of temperate Eurasia. Naturalised spp. 2.
Schedonorus as a separate genus as treated by Holub, J. Preslia 70: 112-113 (1998) is preferred to retention in Festuca subgenus Schedonorus, the common style, or placement in Lolium as favoured by Darbyshire, S. J. Novon 3: 239-243 (1993). Modern molecular data are summarised by Soreng, R. J. and Terrell, E. E. Phytologia 83: 85-88 (1997) who opted for Schedonorus; the actual date of publication of their combinations is August 1998 (although Phytologia is dated 1997). Holub's combinations predate it, and priority lies with Holub including that for the nothogenus ×Schedolium Holub, Preslia 70: 111 (1998).
