English Couch

English Couch photos

Family: Grass (Poaceae syn. Graminae)

Scientific Name:

Elytrigia repens (syn. Agropyron repens, Elymus repens)

English Couch plants
Photo: A J Brown

Other Common Names:

Rope Twitch, Twitch-grass, Quick-grass, Quitch-grass, Witch-grass, Quackgrass, Dog-grass, Scotch Quelch

Status:

Native to southern Europe, Asia, north-west Africa.

Plant Description:

Rhizomatous perennial grass with decumbent to erect stems to 1 m tall (but often much shorter). Leaves are smooth to slightly rough, flat or somewhat channelled, 10-20 cm long and 3-10 mm wide and generally hairy of the upper surface.

Flower-head a spike, 5-15 cm long with 12-25 spikelets, arranged with their flat sides facing the flower stem (rachis). Each spikelet 8-17 mm long and of 5-7 flowers.

Habitat:

Scattered around Port Phillip Bay and in a few inland sites. Occasional weed of damp and swampy land including coastal sands. Has some salt and waterlogging tolerance.

Region	Salinity Class	Waterlogging Class
Central and Northern, Western, *Gippsland	S0, S1, S2	W1, W2

*confined to the coast

Comments:

Similar to Tall Wheat-grass (Lophopyrum ponticum) but forms extensive mats instead of large tussocks and has a much smaller flower-head.

English Couch photos

Leaves of English Couch Photo: A J Brown	Auricles at stem and leaf junction of English Couch Photo: A J Brown
Mature flower spikes of English Couch Photo: A J Brown	English Couch spikelets Photo: A J Brown
Mature spikelets of English Couch Photo: A J Brown

Page top