Greek chloris – green, or Chloris – the green one, from the Greek goddess of flowers.
Annual or perennial rhizomatous or stoloniferous grass. Leaves folded in bud. Ligule membranous. Inflorescence of digitately arranged spikes or spike-like racemes, spatheless. Spikelets flattened laterally, mostly 2-3 flowered. Glumes 2, unequal, pointed, lower glume 1 nerved, upper glume 1-4 nerved. Lemmas 2 lobed, not deeply cleft, 1-7 nerved, hairy at the margins, awn present at least on fertile lemmas. Palea entire to apically notched, awnless, 2-nerved, 2-keeled. Both a significant native pasture species (C. truncata, C. ventricosa), as well a weed species (C. gayana, C. virgata, C. barbata, C. pilosa and others).
Seed.
Windmill-like flower heads; spikelets laterally flattened.
About 55 species, tropical and warm temperate.
Anderson (1974), Jacobs and Highet (1988).
Key to be used with caution as other species may be encountered
Source: (2005). Poaceae. In: . Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 5. Flowering plants. Monocotyledons. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.