Pooideae

Brachypodium distachyon, photographed by Neil Harris.

Belongs within: Poaceae.
Contains: Phalarideae, Deyeuxia, Calamagrostis, Piptochaetium, Polypogon, Meliceae, Stipa, Poa, Avena, Agrostis, Deschampsia, Trisetum, Triticum, Hordeum, Agropyrum, Festuca, Bromus.

The Pooideae is a clade of grasses characterised by the loss of stylar fusion (Grass Phylogeny Working Group 2001). Many pooids also possess multiple florets per spikelet and lack multicellular microhairs. Members of the clade include a number of significant grain species, such as wheat (Triticum), rye (Secale cereale), oats (Avena) and barley (Hordeum), and a number of major pasture grasses. In contrast, some species of Nassella (needle grasses) are regarded as weeds in pasture because of their low palatability for livestock. The basalmost member of the subfamily is the genus Brachyelytrum, a perennial grass with solitary spikelets borne in panicles, with persistent but very short glumes, found in Asia and North America.

Characters (from Grass Phylogeny Working Group 2001): Plants annual or perennial (rhizomatous, stoloniferous, or neither), herbaceous. Culms hollow (rarely solid). Leaves distichous; abaxial ligule absent; adaxial ligule scarious or membranous, the margin not or infrequently short ciliate fringed (rarely long ciliate); blades somewhat broad to usually narrow, rarely pseudopetiolate, venation parallel; sheaths sometimes auriculate. Inflorescences spicate, racemose, or paniculate, bracts outside of the spikelets absent or rarely present. Spikelets bisexual, infrequently unisexual or mixed, usually with two glumes (rarely without glumes or the first absent except on terminal spikelets), 1 to many female-fertile florets with apical or infrequently basal reductions, compressed laterally, infrequently not or dorsally compressed, disarticulating above the glumes (infrequently below the glumes or at the nodes of the inflorescence); lemma lacking uncinate macrohairs, if awned, the awn single; palea usually present and well developed, but variable and sometimes very reduced or absent; lodicules 2 (rarely 3, fused, or absent), usually lanceolate, broadly membranous apically (sometimes fleshy, truncate), often lobed, obscurely few-nerved, or infrequently more or less distinctly few-nerved, not or conspicuously ciliate on the margins; stamens usually 3 (infrequently 1 or 2); ovary glabrous or pubes- cent, rarely with an apical appendage or rostellum, haustorial synergids absent, styles usually 2, close, stigmas 2 (rarely 1 or 3). Caryopsis with the hilum linear and up to as long as the fruit, or subbasal and punctiform, linear, ellipsoidal, ovate, or circular and less than 1/3 the length of the fruit; endosperm hard or sometimes soft or liquid, with or without lipids, containing compound starch grains, or simple starch grains; embryo small, epiblast present (rarely absent), scutellar cleft absent (rarely present, but not deeply incised), mesocotyl internode absent (rarely short), embryonic leaf margins meeting (infrequently margins overlapping). Basic chromosome numbers: x = 7, 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13. Foliar anatomy: Mesophyll nonradiate, adaxial palisade layer absent, fusoid cells absent, arm cells absent; Kranz anatomy absent; midrib simple; adaxial bulliform cells present. Foliar micromorphology: Stomata with parallel-sided subsidiary cells; bicellular microhairs absent (rarely present, where chloridoid or panicoid), unicellular microhairs absent (rarely present); papillae usually absent, when present rarely more than one per long cell. Photosynthetic pathway C₃.

<==Pooideae (see below for synonymy)
    |--Brachyelytrum [Brachyelytreae] GPWG01
    |    `--B. erectum GPWG01
    `--+--+--Nardus [Nardeae] GPWG01
       |  |    `--N. stricta GPWG01
       |  `--Lygeum [Lygeeae] GPWG01
       |       `--L. spartum GPWG01
       `--+--Meliceae GPWG01
          `--+--+--+--Anisopogon avenaceus GPWG01
             |  |  `--Phaenosperma [Phaenospermatideae] GPWG01
             |  |       `--P. globosum GPWG01
             |  `--+--Ampelodesmos [Ampelodesmeae] GPWG01
             |     |    `--A. mauritanica GPWG01
             |     `--+--+--Stipa GPWG01
             |        |  `--Nassella GPWG01
             |        |       |--N. leucotricha GPWG01
             |        |       |--N. trichotoma HE80
             |        |       `--N. viridula GPWG01
             |        `--+--Piptatherum GPWG01
             |           |    |--P. coerulescens (Desfontaines) Beauvois 1812 PL04
             |           |    |--P. miliaceum GPWG01
             |           |    `--P. songaricum GPWG01
             |           `--Oryzopsis GPWG01
             |                |--O. hymenoides CL86
             |                |--O. lateralis O88
             |                |--O. miliacea AGF98
             |                |--O. munroi O88
             |                `--O. racemosa [=Piptatherum racemosum] GPWG01
             `--+--Diarrhena [Diarrheneae] GPWG01
                |    |--D. americana GPWG01
                |    `--D. obovata GPWG01
                `--+--+--Trachynia Link 1827 GR98
                   |  |    `--T. platystachya (Balansa) Scholz in Greuter & Raus 1998 (see below for synonymy) GR98
                   |  `--Brachypodium [Brachypodieae] GPWG01
                   |       |--B. distachyon (Linnaeus) Beauvois 1812 GPWG01, PL04 [=Trachynia distachya GR98]
                   |       |--B. mexicanum GPWG01
                   |       |--B. pinnatum (Linnaeus) Beauvois 1812 PL04
                   |       |--B. ramosum C74
                   |       |--B. retusum PT98
                   |       `--B. sylvaticum S03
                   `--+--Poeae [Aveneae] GPWG01
                      |    |--Poa GPWG01
                      |    |--Avena GPWG01
                      |    |--Agrostis GPWG01
                      |    |--Deschampsia C06
                      |    |--Trisetum C06
                      |    `--Amphibromus C06
                      |         |--A. fluitans Kirk 1884 C06
                      |         |--A. neesii C06
                      |         |--A. nervosus GK00
                      |         `--A. vickeryae GK00
                      `--+--Triticeae [Hordeae] A05
                         |    |--Triticum GPWG01
                         |    |--Hordeum A05
                         |    |--Australopyrum A05
                         |    |--Agropyrum C06
                         |    |--Asperella C06
                         |    |    |--A. gracilis Kirk 1895 [=Gymnostichum gracile] C06
                         |    |    `--A. laevis Petrie 1895 C06
                         |    `--Lolium S06
                         |         |--L. italicum C06
                         |         |--L. multiflorum LNB03
                         |         |    |--L. m. var. multiflorum S06
                         |         |    `--L. m. var. muticum S06
                         |         |--L. perenne LNB03
                         |         |--L. rigidum Gaud. 1811 S06
                         |         |    |--L. r. var. rigidum S06
                         |         |    `--L. r. var. aristatum Hackel in Stuckert 1906 S06
                         |         `--L. temulentum C55
                         `--Festuceae C06
                              |--Festuca GPWG01
                              |--Bromus GPWG01
                              |--Munroa S06
                              |    |--M. benthamiana S06
                              |    `--M. squarrosa [incl. Monroa argentina, Munroa mendocina] S06
                              |--Dactylis glomerata Linnaeus 1753 S06, PL04 [=Festuca glomerata S06]
                              |    |--D. g. ssp. glomerata PL04
                              |    `--D. g. ssp. hispanica (Roth) Nyman 1882 PL04
                              |--Koeleria C06
                              |    |--K. albescens BBM02
                              |    |--K. kurtzii Hackel in Kurtz 1899 (see below for synonymy) C06
                              |    |--K. phleoides (Vill.) Pers. 1805 [=Festuca phleoides Vill. 1787] S06
                              |    `--K. splendens Presl 1820 PL04
                              |--Diplachne S06
                              |    |--D. carinata (Gris.) Hackel 1900 [=Atropis carinata Gris. 1879] S06
                              |    |--D. chloridiformis Hackel in Stuckert 1906 S06
                              |    |--D. dubia S06
                              |    |--D. fusca [incl. Leptochloa fascicularis] S06
                              |    |--D. latifolia S06
                              |    |--D. spicata S06
                              |    `--D. verticillata Nees & Meyen 1843 (see below for synonymy) S06
                              |--Atropis C06
                              |    |--A. convoluta S06
                              |    |    |--A. c. var. convoluta S06
                              |    |    `--A. c. var. mendozina Hackel in Stuckert 1906 S06
                              |    |--A. distans [=Glyceria distans] C06
                              |    |--A. novae-zealandiae (Petrie) Hackel in Cheeseman 1906 (see below for synonymy) C06
                              |    `--A. stricta (Hook.f.) Hackel in Cheeseman 1906 [=Glyceria stricta] C06
                              |         |--A. s. var. stricta C06
                              |         `--A. s. var. suborbicularis Hackel in Cheeseman 1906 C06
                              `--Briza S06
                                   |--B. elegans [=Calotheca elegans; incl. Briza brizoides, Bromus brizoides] S06
                                   |--B. humilis Bieberstein 1808 PL04
                                   |--B. maxima OS04
                                   |--B. media C55
                                   |--B. minor Linnaeus 1753 S06
                                   |--B. stricta S06
                                   `--B. triloba S06
                                        |--B. t. f. triloba S06
                                        `--B. t. f. pumila S06

Pooideae incertae sedis:
  Lamarckia aurea GPWG01, K10
  Echinaria capitata GPWG01, Y98
  Cynosurus GPWG01
    |--C. cristatus C06
    `--C. echinatus Linnaeus 1753 PL04
  Anthoxanthum GPWG01
    |--A. horsfieldii H03
    `--A. odoratum S03
  Phalarideae GPWG01
  Secale cereale GPWG01, E-SM02
  Sesleria GPWG01
    |--S. coerulea R91
    |--S. rigida H09
    `--S. sphaerocephala PS98
  Ammochloa GPWG01
  Rostraria GPWG01
    |--R. cristata PT98
    |--R. pumila AGF98
    `--R. salzmannii GR98
         |--R. s. ssp. salzmannii [=Koeleria pubescens var. salzmanni] GR98
         `--R. s. ssp. maroccana (Domin) Scholz in Greuter & Raus 1998 (see below for synonymy) GR98
  Brylkinia [Brylkinieae] GPWG01
  Echinopogon C06
    |--E. caespitosus B00
    `--E. ovatus [incl. Agrostis ovata, Cinna ovata; incl. Hystericina alopecuroides] C06
  Alopecurus C06
    |--A. aequalis BTA75
    |--A. agrestis C06
    |--A. alpinus D03
    |--A. geniculatus CA27
    |--A. myosuroides TG88
    `--A. pratensis C55
  Deyeuxia C06
  Dichelachne C06
    |--D. crinita (see below for synonymy) C06
    |    |--D. c. var. crinita C06
    |    `--D. c. var. intermedia Hack. in Cheeseman 1906 C06
    `--D. sciurea (see below for synonymy) C06
         |--D. s. var. sciurea C06
         `--D. s. var. inaequiglumis Hack. in Cheeseman 1906 C06
  Simplicia laxa Kirk 1897 C06
  Calamagrostis C06
  Piptochaetium S06
  Muehlenbergia S06
    |--M. diffusa Willd. 1797 S06
    |--M. nana Benth. 1846 S06
    `--M. peruviana [=Clomena peruviana Beauv. 1812; incl. M. clomena] S06
  Lycurus S06
    |--L. alopecuroides S06
    `--L. phleoides S06
  Phleum S06
    |--P. alpinum Lin. 1753 S06
    |--P. arenarium G88
    |--P. graecum PT98
    |    |--P. g. ssp. graecum PT98
    |    `--P. g. ssp. aegaeum PT98
    |--P. paniculatum H91
    `--P. pratense LNB03
  Epicampes S06
    |--E. arundinacea [=Sporobolus arundinaceus] S06
    `--E. coerulea S06
         |--E. c. var. coerulea S06
         `--E. c. var. submutica Hackel in Stuckert 1906 S06
  Polypogon S06

Atropis novae-zealandiae (Petrie) Hackel in Cheeseman 1906 [=Glyceria novae-zealandiae Petrie 1901; incl. Poa walkeri Kirk 1885] C06

Dichelachne crinita [=Agrostis crinita, Anthoxanthum crinitum; incl. Dichelachne forsteriana Trin. & Rupr. 1842, D. hookeriana Trin. & Rupr. 1842] C06

Dichelachne sciurea [=Agrostis sciurea; incl. Stipa micrantha, D. montana, D. sieberiana Trin. & Rupr. 1842] C06

Diplachne verticillata Nees & Meyen 1843 [incl. Leptochloa imbricata Turb. 1880, D. imbricata (Thurb.) Scribn. 1891, Rhabdochloa imbricata (Thurb.) OK. 1891] S06

Koeleria kurtzii Hackel in Kurtz 1899 [incl. K. cristata Gris. 1874 (preoc.), K. bergii var. fallacina Domin 1906, K. micrathera Griseb. 1879 non Trisetum micratherum] C06

Pooideae [Agrostideae, Agrostidoideae, Anthoxanthoideae, Avenoideae, Cynosuroideae, Echinarioideae, Festucoideae, Glycerioideae, Hordeoideae, Phalaroideae, Secaloideae]

Rostraria salzmannii ssp. maroccana (Domin) Scholz in Greuter & Raus 1998 [=Koeleria salzmannii var. maroccana Domin 1907, K. pubescens var. maroccana] GR98

Trachynia platystachya (Balansa) Scholz in Greuter & Raus 1998 [=Brachypodium distachyon var. platystachyon Balansa ex Cosson in Cosson & Durieu 1855, B. distachyon subvar. platystachyon (Balansa) St.-Yves 1934] GR98

*Type species of generic name indicated

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Last updated: 8 December 2017.