Flora of New Zealand Series

Type species: P. pratense L.

Annuals or perennials. Leaf-sheath open, or closed near base, glabrous or puberulent. Ligule membranous. Leaf-blade flat. Culm erect. Inflorescence a dense, spike-like, ovoid or cylindric panicle. Spikelets 1-flowered, strongly laterally compressed; disarticulation above glumes. Glumes subequal, membranous, > lemma, keeled, shortly awned, acuminate or acute, margins overlapping for much of their length. Lemma hyaline, broadly truncate or obtuse, awnless, 1-7-nerved, glabrous to densely pubescent. Palea ≈ lemma, ovate-lanceolate, obtuse, 2-keeled. Lodicules 2, or 0. Stamens 2-3. Ovary with glabrous apex. Caryopsis terete or laterally compressed, not grooved; embryo small; hilum punctiform or shortly elliptic; endosperm liquid.

c. 15 spp. of the northern temperate zone and temperate South America. Naturalised sp. 1.