Australian Saltmarsh-grass

Status:

Native to southern Australia and New Zealand.

Tufted, erect, hairless perennial or annual grass, 15-50 cm tall with slender, smooth, pale green, inrolled leaves to 30 cm long and 1 mm wide; ligule membranous, blunt, 1-2 mm long.

Inflorescence, a green, narrow and contracted panicle to 20 cm long and 3 cm wide (but often much smaller) and enclosed in the upper leaf sheath.

Spikelets 6-10 flowered, generally green but sometimes with purplish edges.

Habitat:

Scattered in saline wet marshes and swamps along the coastline and around saline lakes in sandier soils of the Wimmera, Mallee and Northern Plains. Coastal forms are generally perennial while inland forms are annual.

Comments:

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