OregonFlora: Puccinellia nuttalliana

	Puccinellia nuttalliana
	Nuttall's alkali grass
Habit	Plants perennial, 10–100 cm tall; cespitose.
Leaves	blades flat to involute, 1–4 mm wide.
Inflorescences	panicles compact to open at maturity, 5–30 cm, usually distinctly exserted from the sheaths; lower branches erect to diverging or occasionally descending; spikelet-bearing from the base or in the distal 67%; pedicels scabrous, lacking tumid epidermal cells.
Spikelets	3.5–9 mm, 2–7 florets.
Glumes	rounded over the back; veins obscure; tips acute to obtuse; lower glumes 0.5–1.5 mm, usually less than half as long as the adjacent lemmas; upper glumes 1–2.8 mm.
Lemmas	(2)2.2–3(3.5) mm, 5-veined; veins obscure, not extending to the margins; smooth distally; lateral margins inrolled or not; margins near the tips uniformly and densely scabrous; tips acute to obtuse; entire.
Anthers	0.6–2 mm.
2n	=28, 42, 56.

	Puccinellia nuttalliana
Distribution	[WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]
Discussion	Alkaline and saline areas. 800–1400m. BR, BW, ECas, Est, Lava, Owy. CA, ID, NV, WA; western and northern North America. Native. Similar Puccinellia lemmonii has a dense tuft of very narrow basal leaves and acute lemmas. See also discussion for P. nutkaensis.
Source	Flora of Oregon, volume 1, page 473 Barbara Wilson, Richard Brainerd, Nick Otting
Sibling taxa	P. distans, P. lemmonii, P. nutkaensis, P. pumila, P. simplex
Synonyms	Puccinellia airoides, Puccinellia cusickii
Web links	Local floras: BC, CA, OR, WA Local Web sites: CalFlora, CalPhotos, Flora NW, PNW Herbaria WildflowerSearch iNaturalist (observations) USDA Plants Database LBJ Wildflower Center SEINet Plants of the World Online Encyclopedia of Life Wikipedia Google Image Search

Puccinellia nuttalliana

Nuttall's alkali grass

Habit

Plants perennial, 10–100 cm tall; cespitose.

Leaves

blades flat to involute, 1–4 mm wide.

Inflorescences

panicles compact to open at maturity, 5–30 cm, usually distinctly exserted from the sheaths; lower branches erect to diverging or occasionally descending;

spikelet-bearing from the base or in the distal 67%;

pedicels scabrous, lacking tumid epidermal cells.

Spikelets

3.5–9 mm, 2–7 florets.

Glumes

rounded over the back;

veins obscure;

tips acute to obtuse;

lower glumes 0.5–1.5 mm, usually less than half as long as the adjacent lemmas;

upper glumes 1–2.8 mm.

Lemmas

(2)2.2–3(3.5) mm, 5-veined;