Puccinellia

Puccinellia Fl. Ital. 1: 366 (1848).

Derivation:. After Benedetto Puccinelli (1808–1850), Professor of Botany at Lucca.

Key references (keys and floras):. C.A.Gardner, Flora of Western Australia 1 Gramineae 100 (1952); J.P.Jessop, Flora of South Australia 4: 1901–1902 (1986); B.K.Simon, Key to Australian Grasses 153 (1993); S.W.L.Jacobs and K.L.McClay, Flora of New South Wales 4: 606–607 (1993); N.G.Walsh, Flora of Victoria 2: 411–412 (1994); D.I.Morris, Student's Flora of Tasmania 4B: 204–206 (1994); E.Edgar and H.E.Connor, Flora of New Zealand 5: 194–204 (2000); D.Sharp and B.K.Simon, AusGrass (2002); J.P.Jessop, Grasses of South Australia 162–166 (2006); S.W.L.Jacobs, R.D.B.Whalley & D.J.B.Wheeler, Grasses of New South Wales, 4th ed, 359 (2008); A.Wilson (ed.), Flora of Australia 44A: Poaceae 2: 266–274 (2009)

W.D.Clayton & S.A.Renvoize, Genera Graminum (1986), genus (119).

Native and naturalised. About 80 species, from North temperate regions. 5 species in Australia, WA, SA, NSW, Vic, and Tas. Also New Zealand.

Habit. Annual (a few) or perennial, rhizomatous or stoloniferous or tufted or decumbent. Leaf blades narrow. Ligule an unfringed membrane.

Inflorescence. Inflorescence paniculate (rarely reduced and raceme like).

Spikelets. Spikelets laterally compressed, pedicelled; with naked rachilla extension. Fertile spikelets laterally compressed, disarticulating above glumes.

Glumes. Glumes unequal, shorter than spikelet, shorter than adjacent lemmas, pointed or obtuse, awnless, non-keeled, similar. Lower glume 1(–2) nerved. Upper glume 3 nerved.

Florets. Fertile florets 2–12. Lemmas similar in texture to glumes (membranous, thinner apically), entire at apex (or erose, often ciliolate), pointed or blunt, muticous, 5 nerved, not keeled (or rarely keeled). Palea relatively long, apically notched (emarginate), 2 nerved, 2 keeled. Palea keels scabrous (or scaberulous) or hairy. Lodicules 2. Stamens 3. Stigmas 2. Grain small, longitudinally grooved or not grooved, compressed dorsiventrally. Hilum short (round to oval). Embryo small. Endosperm hard.

Kranz Anatomy. C3.

2n = 14, 28, 35, 42, 49, 56, 70, and 77, 2–11 ploid, commonly adventive.

Habitat. Helophytic, mesophytic.

Classification. Pooideae; Poeae.

Notes. Allied to Poa but with a rounded lemma. Often difficult to distinguish from Festuca (acute lemma and elongated hilum) or Glyceria (1-nerved upper glume) (Clayton and Renvoize, 1986).

Types Species. P. distans (L.) Parl., typ. cons..

Biogeographic Element. Clifford & Simon 1981, Simon & Jacobs 1990: Cosmopolitan.

AVH 2011

Scratchpads developed and conceived by (alphabetical): Ed Baker, Katherine Bouton Alice Heaton Dimitris Koureas, Laurence Livermore, Dave Roberts, Simon Rycroft, Ben Scott, Vince Smith