Ect, sometimes geniculate, slender, leafy, terete, smooth; usually 1 node exerted. Leaf sheaths terete or Bayer 41-4109 web weakly compressed,Robert J. Soreng Paul M. Peterson / PhytoKeys 15: 1?04 (2012)smooth, glabrous; butt sheaths thin papery; flag leaf sheaths 1? cm long, margins fused ca. 33 their length; throats and collars smooth, glabrous; ligules 0.5? mm long, decurrent, abaxially smooth, glabrous, apices obtuse to truncate; blades 1? cm long, 1?(?) mm wide, flat or weakly folded, thin, soft. smooth, margins usually slightly scabrous, broadly prow-tipped; blades all about equal in length, flag leaf blades well PD98059 site developed. Panicles 1? cm long, 1.5? ?long as wide, erect, more or less open, rhomboid, moderately congested; rachis with 1?(?) branches per node; primary branches mostly ascending, straight, terete or sulcate, smooth; lateral pedicels less than 1/5 the spikelet in length, smooth; longest branches 1.5? cm, spikelets crowded along the branches, with up to 10 spikelets from the base to distal 1/2. Spikelets 3? mm long, lanceolate, laterally compressed; not bulbiferous; florets 2?, proximal hermaphroditic, distal sometimes pistillate; rachilla internodes terete, smooth, glabrous, usually exposed in side view, distal internode 1/2?/4 length of distal lemma; glumes unequal, smooth, distinctly keeled, keels smooth, apex acuminate to acute or obtuse, sharp pointed or slightly blunt; lower glumes 1?.5 mm long, 1-veined, narrowly lanceolate, often slightly sickle shaped, or subulate; upper glumes 2?.5 mm long, usually shorter than or subequaling lowest lemma, 3-veined, lanceolate to oblanceolate; calluses glabrous; lemmas 2?.5 mm long, broadly lanceolate, light green, distinctly keeled, smooth throughout, keels, marginal, and intermediate veins densely crisply puberulent to long villous, between veins glabrous, intermediate veins prominent, margins and edges smooth, apices obtuse to acute; paleas keels smooth, short to long villous over the keels. Flowers cleistogamous to weakly chasmogamous; lodicules 0.15?.2 mm long (the upper sometimes rudimentary); anthers 0.1?.55 mm long, more or less spherical to short elliptical prior to dehiscence, distal flower ones sometimes vestigial. Caryopses 1.4 mm long, elliptical in side-view, subcylindrical in cross-section, pale green, sulcus almost flat, hilum 0.1 mm long, round to oval, grain slightly adherent to the palea. 2n = 14. Distribution. The species is indigenous to western Eurasia, Middle East (especially Mediterranean countries), and North Africa; introduced in Australia and the Americas. In North America the species is known from sporadic locations in British Columbia, Canada; California, Georgia, Oregon in the USA; and Baja California, Mexico. In South America the species is known from Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Columbia, Peru, and in Central America it has been reported from Guatemala (Soreng et al. 2003b). Ecology. This species occurs from near sea level in temperate regions with Mediterranean climates, to elevations with cool temperate to frigid climates in tropical latitudes (to 4400 m). Flowering late winter to early spring. Specimens examined. Mexico. Baja California: between Maneadaro and San Carlos Hot Springs, 18 Apr 1973, A.A.Beetle M-2838 (TAES). Discussion. This diploid species name was applied to various early collections from Mexico, and later treated as synonym of P. annua (Hitchcock 1913, 1935). Poa annua is a tetraploid species derived from P. infirma ?P. supina (Soreng et al. 20.Ect, sometimes geniculate, slender, leafy, terete, smooth; usually 1 node exerted. Leaf sheaths terete or weakly compressed,Robert J. Soreng Paul M. Peterson / PhytoKeys 15: 1?04 (2012)smooth, glabrous; butt sheaths thin papery; flag leaf sheaths 1? cm long, margins fused ca. 33 their length; throats and collars smooth, glabrous; ligules 0.5? mm long, decurrent, abaxially smooth, glabrous, apices obtuse to truncate; blades 1? cm long, 1?(?) mm wide, flat or weakly folded, thin, soft. smooth, margins usually slightly scabrous, broadly prow-tipped; blades all about equal in length, flag leaf blades well developed. Panicles 1? cm long, 1.5? ?long as wide, erect, more or less open, rhomboid, moderately congested; rachis with 1?(?) branches per node; primary branches mostly ascending, straight, terete or sulcate, smooth; lateral pedicels less than 1/5 the spikelet in length, smooth; longest branches 1.5? cm, spikelets crowded along the branches, with up to 10 spikelets from the base to distal 1/2. Spikelets 3? mm long, lanceolate, laterally compressed; not bulbiferous; florets 2?, proximal hermaphroditic, distal sometimes pistillate; rachilla internodes terete, smooth, glabrous, usually exposed in side view, distal internode 1/2?/4 length of distal lemma; glumes unequal, smooth, distinctly keeled, keels smooth, apex acuminate to acute or obtuse, sharp pointed or slightly blunt; lower glumes 1?.5 mm long, 1-veined, narrowly lanceolate, often slightly sickle shaped, or subulate; upper glumes 2?.5 mm long, usually shorter than or subequaling lowest lemma, 3-veined, lanceolate to oblanceolate; calluses glabrous; lemmas 2?.5 mm long, broadly lanceolate, light green, distinctly keeled, smooth throughout, keels, marginal, and intermediate veins densely crisply puberulent to long villous, between veins glabrous, intermediate veins prominent, margins and edges smooth, apices obtuse to acute; paleas keels smooth, short to long villous over the keels. Flowers cleistogamous to weakly chasmogamous; lodicules 0.15?.2 mm long (the upper sometimes rudimentary); anthers 0.1?.55 mm long, more or less spherical to short elliptical prior to dehiscence, distal flower ones sometimes vestigial. Caryopses 1.4 mm long, elliptical in side-view, subcylindrical in cross-section, pale green, sulcus almost flat, hilum 0.1 mm long, round to oval, grain slightly adherent to the palea. 2n = 14. Distribution. The species is indigenous to western Eurasia, Middle East (especially Mediterranean countries), and North Africa; introduced in Australia and the Americas. In North America the species is known from sporadic locations in British Columbia, Canada; California, Georgia, Oregon in the USA; and Baja California, Mexico. In South America the species is known from Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Columbia, Peru, and in Central America it has been reported from Guatemala (Soreng et al. 2003b). Ecology. This species occurs from near sea level in temperate regions with Mediterranean climates, to elevations with cool temperate to frigid climates in tropical latitudes (to 4400 m). Flowering late winter to early spring. Specimens examined. Mexico. Baja California: between Maneadaro and San Carlos Hot Springs, 18 Apr 1973, A.A.Beetle M-2838 (TAES). Discussion. This diploid species name was applied to various early collections from Mexico, and later treated as synonym of P. annua (Hitchcock 1913, 1935). Poa annua is a tetraploid species derived from P. infirma ?P. supina (Soreng et al. 20.