Isachne R. Br.

Flowering and fruiting: February-March

Perennials, 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, Stems branching above base or distally at nodes, Stem nodes bearded or hairy, Stem internodes hollow, Stems with inflorescence less than 1 m tall, Stems, culms, or scapes exceeding basal leaves, Leaves mostly c auline, Leaves conspicuously 2-ranked, distichous, Leaves sheathing at base, Leaf sheath mostly open, or loose, Leaf sheath smooth, glabrous, Leaf sheath and blade differentiated, Leaf blades disarticulating from sheath, deciduous at ligule, Leaf blades lanceolate, Leaf blade auriculate, Leaf blades 2-10 mm wide, Leaf blades 1-2 cm wide, Leaf blades mostly flat, Leaf blades mostly glabrous, Leaf blades scabrous, roughened, or wrinkled, Ligule present, Ligule a fringed, ciliate, or lobed membrane, Ligule a fringe of hairs, Inflorescence terminal, Inflorescence an open panicle, openly paniculate, branches spreading, Inflorescence solitary, with 1 spike, fascicle, glomerule, head, or cluster per stem or culm, Inflorescence branches more than 10 to numerous, Flowers bisexual, Flowers unisexual, Spikelets pedicellate, Spikelets sessile or subsessile, Spikelets dorsally compressed or terete, Spikelet less than 3 mm wide, Spikelets with 2 florets, Spikelets solitary at rachis nodes , Spikelets bisexual, Spikelets disarticulating above the glumes, glumes persistent, 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, Glumes 8-15 nerved, Lemmas thin, chartaceous, hyaline, cartilaginous, or membranous, Lemma similar in texture to glumes, Lemma 5-7 nerved, Lemma glabrous, Lemma body or surface hairy, Lemma apex truncate, rounded, or obtuse, Lemma awnless, Lemma margins thin, lying flat, Lemma straight, Palea present, well developed, Palea membranous, hyaline, Palea longer than lemma, Stamens 3, Styles 2-fid, deeply 2-branched, Stigmas 2, Fruit - caryopsis.

Culm short, branching and rooting at the lower nodes. Blade about 1.6 cm long, ovate-cordate to lanceolate, acuminate at the apex, scabrous, margins thickened, coriaceous, ciliate at the base; sheath pubescent, 1-2 cm long, margins ciliate; ligule a ring of hairs. Panicle about 3 cm long, oblong in outline, pyramidal when mature; pedicel short, with thickened tip. Spikelets about 1.5 mm long, with subglobose upper floret and a ovoid lower floret; glumes 5-7-nerved; lower glume obtuse, nearly as long as the upper glume; upper glume oblong, thickened, slightly shorter than the spikelet. Flowers dimorphic; the upper slightly coriaceous, pubescent; the lower thinner, glabrous; anther about 0.6 mm long.

"Herbs, culms tufted, creeping; erect ones to 40 cm; nodes densely pilose. Leaves flat, 1.5-4 x 0.4-0.6 cm, pilose; ligule to 0.2 cm. Panicles open, contracted, to 5 cm. Spikelets obovoid, to 0.15 cm; florets unequal; pedicels to 0.5 cm, glandular; glumes elliptic, to 0.18 cm, membranous, glabrous; lower glume 5-veined; upper glume similar to lower; lemmas elliptic, to 0.16 cm, puberulous."