Lax Saltmarsh-grass

Status:

Mainly native to Victoria but occasionally recorded for Tasmania, New South Wales and South Australia.

Plant Description:

Tufted, erect, hairless perennial or annual grass to 50 cm tall with slender, smooth, green, inrolled leaves to 30 cm long and 1 mm wide; ligule membranous, blunt, 1-2 mm long.

Inflorescence, a green to purple, broad and open panicle to 30 cm long and 25 cm wide and fully exserted from the upper leaf sheath.

Spikelets 3-5 flowered, frequently purple and more or less widely separated along the panicle branches.

Habitat:

Common across saline swamps and around salt lakes throughout the Victorian Volcanic Plain and scattered through the Wimmera.

Comments:

Other Puccinellia species in Victoria include the native; Australian Saltmarsh-grass (P. stricta), the exotic volunteer; Borrer’s Saltmarsh-grass (P. fasciculata) (with which Lax Saltmarsh-grass is often found) and the exotic sown; Puccinellia (P. ciliata). A simplified key can be accessed here – Key to species.