Gastridium ventricosum, (Gouan) Schinz & Thell.

Tutin, T. G., Heywood, V. H., Burges, N. A., Moore, D. M., Valentine, D. H., Walters, S. M. & Webb, D. A., 1980, Flora Europaea. Volume 5. Alismataceae to Orchidaceae (Monocotyledones), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press : 235

1. G. ventricosum (Gouan) Schinz & Thell. , Viert. Naturf. Ges. Zürich 58: 39 (1913)

( G. lendigerum (L.) Desv. ; inch G. scabrum C. Presi ).

Stems 10-60 cm, erect or ascending, simple or branched, smooth. Leaves glabrous; ligule 1-3 mm, acute. Panicle 2-12 cm; branches erecto-patent at anthesis, usually appressed before and after. Spikelets (2-)3-4(-5) mm. Glumes scabrid on the keel, constricted above the swollen base, usually with a long, subulate apex. Lemma c. 1 mm, usually hirsute; awn slender, geniculate, rarely absent. Anthers c. 1mm. 2« =14. Grassy places and cultivated fields. S. & W. Europe, northwards to S. England. Al Az BI Br Bu Co Cr Ga Gr Hs It Ju Lu Rm Sa Si Tu.

G. laxum Boiss. & Reuter , Pugillus 126 (1852), is a variant of 1 with a lax panicle and spikelets 2-3 mm: it occurs with typical G. ventricosum in S.W. Spain and Portugal.

G. phleoides (Nees & Meyen) C. E. Hubbard , Kew Bull. 9: 375 (1954), native of S.W. Asia and N.E. Africa, has once been recorded from Turkey-in-Europe (near Lüleburgaz) and S. Portugal but probably only as a casual. It is like 1 but the panicle is always very dense, the spikelets are 6-8 mm and the awn 6-8 mm.