Briza maxima L.:
Argentina (South America)
Australia (Oceania)
Brazil (South America)
Chile (South America)
Guatemala (Mesoamerica)
Ecuador (South America)
Colombia (South America)
Caribbean (Caribbean)
Honduras (Mesoamerica)
United States (North America)
South Africa (Africa & Madagascar)
Spain (Europe)
Uruguay (South America)
Venezuela (South America)
India (Asia)
New Zealand (Oceania)

Canada

Origin: Exotic

Regularity: Regularly occurring

Currently: Unknown/Undetermined

Confidence: Confident

United States

Origin: Exotic

Regularity: Regularly occurring

Currently: Unknown/Undetermined

Confidence: Confident

Distribution: Pakistan (Punjab, introduced); Mediterranean region; naturalised in many warm temperate countries.

Annuals, Terrestrial, not aquatic, Stems nodes swollen or brittle, Stems erect or ascending, 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, Stems, culms, or scapes exceeding basal leaves, Leaves mostly basal, below middle of stem, Leaves mostly cauline, Leaves conspicuously 2-ranked, distichous, Leaves sheathing at base, Leaf s heath mostly open, or loose, Leaf sheath smooth, glabrous, Leaf sheath and blade differentiated, Leaf blades linear, Leaf blades 2-10 mm wide, Leaf blades mostly flat, Leaf blades mostly glabrous, Leaf blades scabrous, roughened, or wrinkled, Ligule present, Ligule an unfringed eciliate membrane, Inflorescence terminal, Inflorescence simple spikes, Inflorescence an open panicle, openly paniculate, branches spreading, Inflorescence solitary, with 1 spike, fascicle, glomerule, head, or cluster per stem or culm, Inflorescence lax, widely spreading, branches drooping, pendulous, Inflorescence with 2-10 branches, Flowers bisexual, Spikelets laterally compressed, Spikelet 3-10 mm wide, Spikelets with 8-40 florets, Spikelets solitary at rachis nodes, Spikelets all alike and fertille, Spikelets bisexual, Spikelets disarticulating above the glumes, glumes persistent, Spikelets disarticulating beneath or between the florets, Rachilla or pedicel glabrous, Glumes present, empty bracts, Glumes 2 clearly present, Glumes equal or subequal, Glumes shorter than adjacent lemma, Glumes 8-15 nerved, Lemma similar in texture to glumes, Lemma 5-7 nerved, Lemma 8-15 nerved, Lemma glabrous, Lemma body or surface hairy, Lemma apex acute or acuminate, Lemma awnless, Lemma mucronate, very shortly beaked or awned, less than 1-2 mm, Lemma margins thin, lying flat, Lemma saccate or swollen, Lemma straight, Palea present, well developed, Palea membranous, hyaline, Palea shorter than lemma, Palea 2 nerved or 2 keeled, Stamens 3, Styles 2-fid, deeply 2-branched, Stigmas 2, Fruit - caryopsis.

Annual; culms 10-60 cm high, loosely tufted or solitary, erect or geniculately ascending, slender. Leaf-blades 5-20 cm long, 3-8 mm wide, flat, minutely rough on the margins; ligule 2-5 mm long. Panicle 3-10 cm long, loose, nodding, bearing up to 12 spikelets on capillary pedicels. Spikelets 7-20-flowered, ovate to oblong, plump, 14-25 mm long and 8-15 mm wide, glabrous or minutely hairy, pale green, silvery or suffused with reddish-brown or purple; lemma 6-8 mm long, very broad, rounded on the back, obtuse.

An extremely attractive grass widely cultivated as an ornamental (Large Quaking-grass) and frequently escaping.

This is a very attractive ornamental grass with a panicle of relatively few large spikelets. It is widely cultivated and an established introduction in many warm-temperate countries.

Annual. Culms solitary or loosely tufted, erect or geniculate at base, 20–60 cm tall. Leaf sheaths smooth, glabrous; leaf blades thin, 4–20 cm × 3–8 mm, margins scabrid, otherwise smooth, apex acute; ligule 2–5 mm, obtuse. Panicle loose, nodding, 7–10 cm, sparingly branched with few pendant spikelets; branches inserted singly, scaberulous, sometimes with only 1 spikelet; pedicels hairlike, shorter or longer than spikelet, drooping. Spikelets ovate, ca. 1.2 × 1 cm, tinged reddish brown, florets 7–20; lower glume 5–6 mm, 5-veined, upper glume 6–7 mm, 7–9-veined, margins purple or tawny, apex broadly rounded; lemmas very broadly ovate, wider than long, lowest 7–8 mm, 7–9-veined, glabrous or appressed-pubescent; palea obovate, 1/2–2/3 length of lemma, back glabrous, keels pubescent. Anthers ca. 2 mm. 2n = 14.

Type fragment for Briza rubra Lam.
Collection: Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Department of Botany
Verification Degree: Card file verified by examination of alleged type specimen
Preparation: Pressed specimen
Collector(s): P. Sonnerat
Locality: Punjab, India / Pakistan, Asia-Tropical

Gardens. Frequently cultivated in China [N Africa, S Europe].

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

Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLDS) Stats
Public Records: 0
Species: 3
Species With Barcodes: 1

Rounded Global Status Rank: GNR - Not Yet Ranked

Canada

Rounded National Status Rank: NNA - Not Applicable

United States

Rounded National Status Rank: NNA - Not Applicable