Apera

Common Windhalm ( Apera spica -venti )

Windhalm ( Apera ) is a genus of the family Gramineae ( Poaceae ). The genus is related to the ostrich grasses ( Agrostis ). Of them Apera differs in that the Ährchenachse is extended beyond the approach of the spikelet addition. The name comes from the Greek aperos ( = unmutilated ) back.

Species

Three of the five species occur in Europe:

• Common Windhalm ( Apera spica -venti (L.) Beauv P.. ), Frequent weeds in winter cereals; Home: Europe and western Siberia
• Interrupted Windhalm ( Apera interrupta (L. ) P. Beauv. ), In Central Europe rarely naturalized in the Rhineland, otherwise just introduced, home to Western Europe, Western Asia to Central Asia, North Africa, North America, however, more often than Apera spica -venti
• Apera intermedia hack.; occurs in Turkey and Southwest Asia

The remaining two species occur in Turkey.