Family |
Poaceae
Aegilops biuncialis
Vis.
Aegilops biuncialis Vis.
(Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 1, Pl. XLIII nº 4; 1966)
Life‑form & habit : Annual tufted grass with smooth, glabrous culms; leaf‑sheaths may be villous or glabrous; ligule extremely short.
Leaves : Blades glabrous on the outer face, striate and villous within.
Inflorescence : Spike bearing 3 (rarely 4) oblong‑linear spikelets, sometimes slightly dilated or inflated; one or two minute rudimentary spikelets below.
Glumes : In the lowest spikelet two unequal awns (occasionally a vestige of a third); glumes of the upper spikelets equipped with three awns.
Lemmas : End in very short awns, a feature that separates the species from A. kotschyi; caryopsis free, not adherent to the lemma.
Flowering period : March – June.
Native range : Discontinuous but widespread—from Italy, France, Greece and the Balkans through North Africa and Palestine to Syria, Lebanon, Asia Minor, the Crimea and the Caucasus.