Distichlis spicata
alkali saltgrass (var. stricta), alkaline grass, coastal salt grass, desert saltgrass, inland saltgrass, marsh spikegrass, salt grass, seashore saltgrass, seashore saltgrass (var. spicata)
10-60 cm, usually erect, sometimes decumbent or prostrate.
of upper leaves 1-8(20) cm, rigid and divaricate to lax and ascending, usually equaling or exceeding the pistillate panicles, varying with respect to the staminate panicles.
2-5 mm, tapered or truncate.
panicles 1-7 cm, often congested, with 2-20 spikelets.; pistillate spikelets 5-20 mm long, 4-7 mm wide, with 5-20 florets;
lower glumes 2-3 mm;
upper glumes 3-4 mm;
lemmas 3.5-6 mm;
paleas with serrate keels.
panicles and spikelets similar to the pistillate panicles and spikelets, but the lemmas somewhat thinner in texture and the paleas not bowed-out.
3-4 mm.
= 40.
Distichlis spicata
Distichlis spicata grows in saline soils of the Western Hemisphere and Australia. Numerous infraspecific taxa have been recognized in the past, but none appears to be justified. Recent North American accounts of Distichlis have usually recognized plants from maritime coasts as distinct from those growing inland, supposedly having more congested inflorescences, but the range of variation is similar in the two habitats.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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