Chascolytrum subaristatum

Chascolytrum subaristatum (Lam.) Desv. (Poaceae), formerly placed in Briza as B. subaristata, is a slender tufted perennial grass 20-70 cm tall, native to temperate South America, particularly southern Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay, Argentina and Chile, where it grows in open grasslands, campo, pampas and disturbed roadsides. The fibrous-rooted base produces several thin erect culms with narrow flat leaf blades 5-15 cm long and 1-3 mm wide and a short membranous ligule. The inflorescence is a delicate open panicle 6-15 cm long with capillary branches that nod at maturity. Spikelets are ovate to broadly triangular, 3-5 mm long, laterally compressed and bearing 3-8 closely imbricated florets giving them the characteristic quaking-grass appearance of related taxa; the awns are short or vestigial, distinguishing it from awnless Briza. Glumes are about as long as the spikelet and the lemmas are broadly cordate at the base. The species is an ornamental and a minor pasture component.