''Puccinellia fasciculata'', or Borrer's saltmarsh grass, is an annual grass native to coasts of Europe and introduced to the northern east coast of North America. Its diploid number is 28.

Description

''Puccinellia fasciculata'' is a coarse, annual grass growing high. Its leaf blades are wide and are typically flat, though leaves can curl inwards at their ends. Its ovoid or ellipsoid

panicle A panicle is a much-branched inflorescence. (softcover ). Some authors distinguish it from a compound spike inflorescence, by requiring that the flowers (and fruit) be pedicellate (having a single stem per flower). The branches of a panicle are of ...

is long, with ascending, somewhat scabrous floral branches floriferous almost to their base. Its

spikelet A spikelet, in botany, describes the typical arrangement of the flowers of grasses, sedges and some other Monocots. Each spikelet has one or more florets. The spikelets are further grouped into panicles or spikes. The part of the spikelet that ...

s are long and bear two to five flowers. The one-nerved first

glume In botany, a glume is a bract (leaf-like structure) below a spikelet in the inflorescence (flower cluster) of grasses (Poaceae) or the flowers of sedges (Cyperaceae). There are two other types of bracts in the spikelets of grasses: the lemma and ...

is long, and the three-nerved second glume is twice as long. Its ovate

lemma Lemma may refer to: Language and linguistics * Lemma (morphology), the canonical, dictionary or citation form of a word * Lemma (psycholinguistics), a mental abstraction of a word about to be uttered Science and mathematics * Lemma (botany), a ...

s are long, are pubescent at their base, and become minutely serrulate at their tip. The palea are shorter, oblong, and erose at their tip. The

anther The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filam ...

s are long. The grass flowers from May to July. Previously included in ''

Puccinellia distans ''Puccinellia distans'' is a species of grass known by the common names weeping alkaligrass and European alkali grass. It is native to Europe and it is present in most of North America, where it is perhaps an introduced species. It grows in moist ...

'', ''P. fasciculata'' differs in its stouter and stiffer culms, being ascending or erect rather than decumbent as in ''P. distans''. Its panicles are smaller and more narrow, its floral branches are floriferous nearly to their base, and its spikelets are more crowded and more coriaceous than in ''P. distans''.

Habitat and distribution

''Puccinellia fasciculata'' prefers sandy and saline seashores from Nova Scotia to Virginia in North America, though it is native to Europe. It can also be found at a few individual sites in Arizona, Utah, and Nevada. All occurrences of the species in North America are likely introductions of the species to the region by humans.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15518404 fasciculata Plants described in 1908 Flora of Malta