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Puccinellia vahliana

(Vahl's Alkaligrass)

Common Names

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Common Names in English:

Vahl's Alkaligrass

Description

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Family Poaceae

Annual or perennial herbs, or tall woody bamboos . Flowering stems (culms ) jointed , internodes hollow or solid; branches arising singly from nodes and subtended by a leaf sheath and 2-keeled prophyll, often fascicled in bamboos. Leaves arranged alternately in 2 ranks , differentiated into sheath, blade , and an adaxial erect appendage at sheath/blade junction (ligule) ; leaf sheath surrounding and supporting culm-internode, split to base or infrequently tubular with partially or completely fused margins , modified with reduced blade in bamboos (culm sheaths) ; leaf blades divergent, usually long, narrow and flat, but varying from inrolled and filiform to ovate , veins parallel, sometimes with cross-connecting veinlets (especially in bamboos) ; ligule membranous or a line of hairs . Inflorescence terminal or axillary , an open, contracted , or spikelike panicle, or composed of lax to spikelike racemes arranged along an elongate central axis, or digitate, paired , or occasionally solitary; axillary inflorescences often many, subtended by spatheoles (specialized bladeless leaf sheaths) and gathered into a leafy compound panicle; spikelets often aggregated into complex clusters in bamboos. Spikelets composed of distichous bracts arranged along a slender axis (rachilla) ; typically 2 lowest bracts (glumes ) empty, subtending 1 to many florets ; glumes often poorly differentiated from accompanying bracts in bamboos. Florets composed of 2 opposing bracts enclosing a single small flower, outer bract (lemma) clasping the more delicate, usually 2-keeled inner bract (palea) ; base of floret often with thickened prolongation articulated with rachilla (callus) ; lemma often with apical or dorsal bristle (awn ), glumes also sometimes awned . Flowers bisexual or unisexual ; lodicules (small scales representing perianth) 2, rarely 3 or absent, 3 to many in bamboos, hyaline or fleshy ; stamens 3 rarely 1, 2, 6, or more in some bamboos, hypogynous, filaments capillary , anthers versatile; ovary 1-celled, styles (1 or) 2(rarely 3), free or united at base, topped by feathery stigmas, exserted from sides or apex of floret. Fruit normally a dry indehiscent caryopsis with thin pericarp firmly adherent to seed, pericarp rarely free, fleshy in some bamboos; embryo small or large; hilum punctate to linear .

About 700 genera and 11,000 species: widely distributed in all regions of the world.Shou-liang Chen, De-Zhu Li, Guanghua Zhu, Zhenlan Wu, Sheng-lian Lu, Liang Liu, Zheng-ping Wang, Bi-xing Sun, Zheng-de Zhu, Nianhe Xia, Liang-zhi Jia, Zhenhua Guo, Wenli Chen, Xiang Chen, Yang Guangyao, Sylvia M. Phillips, Chris Stapleton, Robert J. Soreng, Susan G. Aiken, Nikolai N. Tzvelev, Paul M. Peterson, Stephen A. Renvoize, Marina V. Olonova & Klaus Ammann "Poaceae". in Flora of China Vol. 22. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org.

Genus Puccinellia

Perennial herbs, tufted . Culms erect . Leaf sheaths spread along culms or clustered at base , glabrous ; leaf blades linear , often convolute or conduplicate , scabrid or smooth ; ligule membranous. Inflorescence a spreading or contracted panicle. Spikelets slightly compressed or cylindrical, disarticulating above glumes and between florets ; florets 2-8, imbricate; glumes lanceolate to broadly ovate , unequal, shorter than first floret, papery , apex often scarious , obtuse or acuminate; lower glume small, 1(-3) -veined, upper glume 3-veined; lemmas oblong , lanceolate or ovate, papery, 5-veined, back rounded or slightly keeled , glabrous or pubescent on lower veins, intervein spaces, and base, apex obtuse or slightly acuminate, membranous, ciliate or irregularly finely toothed ; palea as long as or slightly shorter than lemma; lodicules 2, often 2-lobed; stamens 3, small. Caryopsis small, narrowly ellipsoid , not sulcate , free from palea and lemma. x = 7.

About 200 species: temperate and arctic regions of both hemispheres, usually along shores of saline lakes , also on mountains in the tropics; 50 species (14 endemic) in China.Liang Liu, Guanghua Zhu & Nikolai N. Tzvelev "Puccinellia". in Flora of China Vol. 22 Page 1, 225, 245, 287, 315. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org.

Physical Description

Habit: Graminoid

Biology

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Reproduction

Duration: Perennial

Taxonomy

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Unambiguous Synonyms

  1. Atropis vahliana (Liebm.) K. Richt.
  2. Colpodium vahlianum (Liebm.) Nevski
  3. Glyceria vahliana (Liebm.) Th. Fr.
  4. Phippsia vahliana (Liebm.) A.& D. Lve
  5. Phippsia vahliana (Liebm.) Á. Löve & D. Löve
  6. Poa vahliana Liebm.
  7. Puccinellia vahliana (Liebm.) Scribn. & Merr.
  8. Puccinellia vahliana (Liebm.) Tolm.

Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name . Latest taxonomic scrutiny: 15-Mar-2000

Place of publication : Contr. U.S. Natl. Herb. 13:78. 1910

Name verified on 27-May-2004 by ARS Systematic Botanists. Last updated: 21-Apr-2006

Similar Species

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Members of the genus Puccinellia

There are approximately 282 species in this genus. Here are just 100 of them:

P. acroxantha · P. adpressa · P. agrostidea (Bent Alkaligrass) · P. agrostoidea · P. akbaitalensis · P. altaica · P. alticola · P. ambigua (Alberta Alkaligrass) · P. americana (American Alkaligrass) · P. andersoni · P. andersonii (Anderson's Alkaligrass) · P. anderssonii · P. angusta · P. angustata (Narrow Alkaligrass) · P. angustata palibinii · P. angustata var. decumbens · P. angustata var. vaginata · P. anisoclada · P. anisoclada melderisiana · P. antarctica · P. antipoda · P. arctica (Arctic Alkaligrass) · P. argentinensis · P. arjinshanensis · P. asiatica · P. asperifolia · P. atacamensis · P. atrostoidea · P. baltica · P. battandieri · P. beckii · P. biflora · P. bilykiana · P. blomii · P. brachylepis · P. bruggemanni · P. bruggemannii (Prince Patrick Alkaligrass) · P. bulbosa · P. bulbosa caesarea · P. byrrangensis · P. caespitosa · P. california · P. canbyi · P. capillaris · P. capillaris pulvinata · P. carinata · P. chathamica · P. chilochloa · P. chinampoensis · P. choresmica · P. ciliata · P. colpodioides · P. conferta · P. convoluta · P. coreensis · P. degeensis · P. deschampsioides (Polar Alkali Grass) · P. diffusa · P. distans (European Alkaligrass) · P. distans borealis (Weeping Alkaligrass) · P. distans distans (Weeping Alkaligrass) · P. distans f. ambigua · P. distans f. montana · P. distans f. tenuis · P. distans glauca · P. distans limosa · P. distans sevangensis · P. distans x · P. dolicholepis · P. dolicholepis aksaica · P. dolicholepis fominii · P. dusenii · P. elata · P. embergeri · P. expansa · P. fasciculata (Saltmarsh Alkaligrass) · P. fasciculata pseudodistans · P. fasciculata pungens (Saltmarsh Alkaligrass) · P. fasciculata var. pseudodistans · P. fauriei · P. fendlerana · P. fendleriana · P. ferndalii · P. festucaeformis · P. festuciformis · P. festuciformis intermedia · P. festuciformis lagascana · P. festuciformis tenuifolia · P. filifolia · P. filiformia · P. filiformis · P. finmarchica · P. flahaultii · P. florida · P. fominii · P. fontqueri · P. foucaudi · P. fragiliflora · P. frigida · P. gigantea

Bibliography

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More Info

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Notes

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Contributors

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal February 28, 2008:

Identifiers

Footnotes

Last Revised: 2008-09-20