Salt-Lake Tussock-Grass

Photos of Salt-Lake Tussock-Grass

Family: Grass (Poaceae syn. Gramineae)

Scientific Name:

Poa salacustrisi

Salt-lake Tussock-grass (lighter green) on the fringe of a salt lake
Photo: A J Brown

Status:

Endemic to a few salt lakes in Western Victoria.

Plant Description:

Rhizomatous, perennial grass, forming dense surface mats and growing to 30 cm tall. Leaves are smooth and hairless and somewhat firm and folded, growing to 12 cm long and 2 mm wide. Flower-heads are loosely contracted to open and spreading panicles to 10 cm long and 7 cm wide. Spikelets are 4-6 flowered and 5-8 mm long with smooth keels to its glumes. The florets are rather firm with the keel hairy in the lower half. Flowers in mid-spring.

Habitat:

Grows on the margins of salt lakes in gravelly clays or sandy swathes but appears to avoid the saline environment itself. Surprisingly, never found around fresh-water lakes. Appears to withstand waterlogging during periods of high lake levels.

Region	Salinity Class	Waterlogging Class
Western	S0, *S1	W0, W1, W2

*likely to tolerate slight salinity during high water level periods

Comments:

Poa is a large world-wide grass genus with at least 30 species, both native and introduced, represented in Victoria. Salt-lake Tussock-grass is similar to Kentucky Blue-grass (Poa pratensis), but is a smaller plant with somewhat yellower leaves than the mid to deep green, leaves of Kentucky Blue-grass.

Photos of Salt-lake Tussock-grass

Salt-lake Tussock-grass on the outer edge of Sea Rush (Juncus kradssii) Photo: A J Brown	Flower-heads of Salt-lake Tussock-grass Photo: A J Brown
Salt-lake Tussock-grass population Photo: A J Brown	Salt-lake Tussock-grass population Photo: A J Brown

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