Hello, I am new to this forum and hope I can get assistance in identifying the following grass. This is probably a new entry for the Israeli Flora, as this is the first report on the finding of this grass in Israel. It was found in an irrigated traffic island in Tel-Aviv. The plant is about 1 m tall, the racemes are short - 5 cm, the inflorescence is a densely contracted panicle, glabrous, awnless, with singly-flowered spikelets. Mouth of leaf sheaths is hairy. I would be grateful for identifying of at least to the genus level. Thank you.
You should check for more details important for ID: how many spikelets at a node, whether some of them are sessile; try to disassemble a spikelet to count its parts. I usually do it with the pincette and the needle. The standard set if a caryopsis/seed enclosed between lemma and palea to make a floret, which in turn is enclosed between two glumes: http://www.uwgb.edu/biodiversity/herbarium/wetland_plants/calcan_spikelet02_web.jpg Some extra parts may belong to reduced florets. Some parts may be missing, too. Check whether Zoysia fits your description.
Thank you very much, Andrey. The infloresence indeed resembles that of Zoysia, but as much as I know those are creeping grasses, very short, while the species I collected is more than 1 meter high. Are you aware of any Zoysia species that can reach such height? Can you or anyone from the forum recommend an identification guide for zoysia species (preferably on the web)? Thanks again for your valuable input.
I have found this identification guide in the link below. None of the species is taller than 30 cm. Z. Matrella is the most similar to the species under identification. However, the species I collected is not mat-forming, as the culms were singular, relatively remote from each other. Additionally, as said already all culms are ~1 meter high. http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=135364
