Common Mediterranean Grass

Nile region, Oases, Mediterranean region, Egyptian desert, Res Sea coastal strip, Gebel Elba and Sinai.

France, Spain, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Syria, Palestine, Arabia, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, South Africa, Namibia.

Considerable difficulty may be experienced in distinguishing between the two species of Schismus. No single character will work, but the combination of characters given in the key should be sufficient guidance. It is important that the lowest floret of a spikelet should be studied as shapes and relative dimensions change with succeeding florets.

Annual. Culms tufted, 5–25 cm tall. Leaf sheaths loosely pilose toward ligule; leaf blades 1–5 cm, often pilose on adaxial surface near base; ligule ca. 0.5 mm. Inflorescence subspicate, 1–4 cm, 5–10 mm wide. Spikelets 5–6 mm, florets 5–10; glumes slightly shorter than spikelet, lanceolate, acute, lower glume 4–5 mm, 5–7-veined, upper glume 4–6 mm, 5-veined; lemmas broadly ovate, 1.8–2.5 mm, 9-veined, pilose below middle often with minutely clavate hairs, 2-lobed, lobes (of lowest lemma) 0.2–0.4 mm, broadly triangular, not longer than wide, apex acute, with or without mucro from sinus; palea reaching at least middle of apical lobes, often as long as or longer than lemma. Anthers 0.2–0.4 mm. 2n = 12.

Tufted annual; culms 5-25 cm high. Leaf-blades linear, acuminate, 1-5 cm long, 0.3-0.5 mm wide (up to 2 mm when flat). Panicle contracted, dense, 1-4 cm long, 0.5-1 cm wide. Spikelets 5-6 mm long, 5-10-flowered; glumes lanceolate, acute, the lower 5-7-nerved, 4-5 mm long, the upper 5-nerved, 4-6 mm long; lowest lemma 9-nerved, 1.8-2.5 mm long, broady ovate, 2-lobed, the lobes broadly triangular, 0.2-0.4 mm long; palea 1.6-2.6 mm long, spathulate, narrowly obtuse, reaching at least to the middle of the lemma lobes, often as long as or longer than the lemma; anthers 0.2-0.4 mm long. Grain obovoid, 1 mm long.

Distribution: Pakistan (Punjab & N.W.F.P.); Mediterranean region to Arabia; South and South West Africa.

Fl. & Fr. Per.: January-May.

Dry open places. Xizang [Afghanistan, NW India, Turkmenistan; N and S Africa, C and SW Asia, S Europe; introduced in America and Australia].

Festuca barbata Linnaeus, Demonstr. Pl. 3. 1753; F. minuta Hoffmann; Schis-mus marginatus J. D. Hooker; S. minutus (Hoffmann) Roemer & Schultes.

Schismus barbatus (L.) Thellung, Bull. Herb. Boissier II 7:391. 1907.
Fej/ttca iaria/o L. Demonst. PI. 3. 1753; Amoen. Acad. 3: 400. 1756.
Schismus fasciculalus Beauv. Agrost. 74. 177. 1812, name only; Trin. Fund. Agrost. 148. 1820.
No locality cited. Schismus marginalus Beauv. Agrost. 177. pi. 15, f. 4. 1812. No locality cited. Culms densely tufted, branching at the base, erect to widely spreading, 5 to 35 cm. tall; foliage mostly scant, the sheaths with a few long delicate hairs at the summit; blades 2-10 cm. long, 1-2 mm. wide, the basal subfiliform, short, curved ; panicles pale to purplish, mostly dense, 1-4 cm. long; pedicels slender, finally disarticulating at base and falling with the spikelet or with the glumes; spikelets about 5-flowered, 5-6 mm. long; glumes about equaling the spikelet, 5-7-nered, acute; lemmas about 2 mm. long, 9-nerved, the summit hyaline, nerveless, the margin appressed-pilose on the lower half, the teeth minute, sometimes with a minute mucro between, the rachilla-joints slender, flexuous; palea concave, as broad as the lemma and about as long.
Type locality: Spain.
Distribution: Open ground, yards, along roadsides, and dry riverbeds, introduced in Arizona and California; native of the Mediterranean region.

Annuals, Terrestrial, not aquatic, Stems nodes swollen or brittle, Stems geniculate, decumbent, or lax, sometimes rooting at nodes, Stems caespitose, tufted, or clustered, Stems terete, round in cross section, or polygonal, Stem internodes hollow, Stems with inflorescence less than 1 m tall, Basal leaves equal to or exceeding stems, culms, or scapes, Stems, culms, or scapes exceed ing basal leaves, Leaves mostly basal, below middle of stem, Leaves conspicuously 2-ranked, distichous, Leaves sheathing at base, Leaf sheath mostly open, or loose, Leaf sheath smooth, glabrous, Leaf sheath hairy at summit, throat, or collar, Leaf sheath and blade differentiated, Leaf blades linear, Leaf blades very narrow or filiform, less than 2 mm wide, Leaf blades mostly flat, Leaf blade margins folded, involute, or conduplicate, Leaf blades mostly glabrous, Leaf blades scabrous, roughened, or wrinkled, Ligule present, Ligule a fringe of hairs, Inflorescence terminal, Inflorescence a contracted panicle, narrowly paniculate, branches appressed or ascending, Inflorescence solitary, with 1 spike, fascicle, glomerule, head, or cluster per stem or culm, Inflorescence branches more than 10 to numerous, Flowers bisexual, Spikelets pedicellate, Spikelets laterally compressed, Spikelet less than 3 mm wide, Spikelets with 3-7 florets, Spikelets with 8-40 florets, Spikelets solita ry at rachis nodes, Spikelets all alike and fertille, Spikelets bisexual, Inflorescence disarticulating between nodes or joints of rachis, rachis fragmenting, Spikelets disarticulating above the glumes, glumes persistent, Spikelets disarticulating below the glumes, Spikelets disarticulating beneath or between the florets, Rachilla or pedicel glabrous, Glumes present, empty bracts, Glumes 2 clearly present, Glumes equal or subequal, Glumes equal to or longer than adjacent lemma, Glumes 3 nerved, Glumes 4-7 nerved, Lemmas thin, chartaceous, hyaline, cartilaginous, or membranous, Lemma 5-7 nerved, Lemma 8-15 nerved, Lemma body or surface hairy, Lemma apex dentate, 2-fid, Lemma awnless, Lemma mucronate, very shortly beaked or awned, less than 1-2 mm, Lemma margins thin, lying flat, Lemma straight, Lemma surface pilose, setose or bristly, Palea present, well developed, Palea membranous, hyaline, Palea about equal to lemma, Palea 2 nerved or 2 keeled, Stamens 3, Styles 2-fid, deep ly 2-branched, Stigmas 2, Fruit - caryopsis.

Schismus barbatus is a species of grass known as common Mediterranean grass and kelch-grass. It is native to Eurasia, and it is also known as an introduced species in the southwestern United States. It grows in many habitats, including disturbed areas. It is an annual grass growing in small clumps. The stems grow up to 27 centimeters long and are lined with threadlike leaves. The short inflorescence bears spikelets under a centimeter long.