Australian Saltmarsh-grass

Scientific Name:	Puccinellia perlaxa (syn. Puccinellia stricta var. perlaxa)	Australian Saltmarsh-grass - mature plant Photo: ex-Matters & Bozon
Status:	Native to southern Australia and New Zealand.
Plant Description:	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).

Australian Saltmarsh-grass - shoots Photo: A J Brown	Australian Saltmarsh-grass - young plant Photo: A J Brown	Australian Saltmarsh-grass - young plants Photo: A J Brown
Australian Saltmarsh-grass - flowering spikelet Photo: A J Brown	Australian Saltmarsh-grass - mature spikelet Photo: A J Brown