Gastridium P.Beauv.
Type species: G. australe P.Beauv. nom. illeg.
Annuals. Leaf-sheath rounded, slightly keeled above. Ligule membranous. Leaf-blade flat. Culm internodes glabrous. Panicle dense, spike-like, narrow-cylindric, sometimes lobed. Spikelets 1-flowered, laterally compressed, swollen and globular at base; disarticulation above glumes; rachilla very shortly prolonged. Glumes unequal, swollen, subcoriaceous and shining below, membranous and keeled above, 1-nerved. Lemma « glumes, 5-nerved, broadly elliptic, rounded, truncate, denticulate, with slender dorsal awn from upper ⅓, or awn subapical, or 0. Palea = lemma, 2-nerved. Lodicules 2, glabrous. Stamens 3. Ovary glabrous; styles free. Caryopsis slightly dorsiventrally compressed; embryo small; hilum punctiform; endosperm liquid.
3 spp., of Eurasia and N.E. Africa. Naturalised sp. 1.
