Locally abundant in poorly drained brackish or tidal saline flats or cayos near 

 the coast, s.e. Tex. and Rio Grande Plains, also in Gonzales Co., spring; Fla. to 

 Cuba; Tex. to Tarn, and Coah.; Calif, to Baja Calif., Son. and Sin. 



10. Distichlis Raf. 



A small American genus of perhaps 3 or 4 species. 

 1. Distichlis spicata (L.) Greene. Saltgrass. Fig. 89. 



Perennial, rarely more than 3 dm. tall, forming tight colonies in saline mud 

 by means of very tough slender whitish scaly rhizomes; culms erect, 1-3 (-5) 

 dm. tall, tough and wiry; leaves usually noticeably 2-ranked, narrow (1-3 mm. 

 broad), usually mostly involute, tough, pungent, only 2-6 (-10) cm. long, ascend- 

 ing; male and female flowers on separate plants; spikelets rather similar on both 

 kinds of plants, in terminal erect spikes or spikelike racemes; pistillate racemes 

 often shorter than staminate (the staminate ones often overtopping the foliate); 

 spikelets 5- to 15-flowered, usually 6-10 mm. long; rachilla of the pistillate 

 spikelets disarticulating above the glumes and between the florets; glumes unequal, 

 broad, acute, keeled, 3- to 7-nerved, the lateral nerves sometimes faint; lemmas 

 closely imbricate, firm, the coriaceous pistillate ones acute or subacute and 3-6 

 mm. long, the pistillate ones more coriaceous and more closely imbricate than 

 the staminate, with 9 to 1 1 mostly faint nerves; palea as long as the lemma or 

 shorter, the margins bowed out near the base, rather soft, narrow, the keels 

 narrowly winged, the pistillate lemmas coriaceous and enclosing the grain which 

 is brown. 



Represented with us by two varieties as follows: 



Var. spicata. Culms 1-6 dm. tall, slender, erect; blades erect, to 15 cm. long, 

 10-25 mm. apart on the culm, equaling or exceeding the pistillate spikes and 

 rarely exceeded by the staminate spikes; pistillate spikes pale green, 1-6 cm. long, 

 of 8 to 36 congested spikelets that are 5- to 9-flowered, up to but not exceeding 

 1 cm. long, 4 mm. broad; first glume 3 mm. long; second glume 4 mm. long; 

 lemmas 6- to 10-nerved, 3.5-4 mm. long, closely imbricate; palea keels minutely 

 evenly serrate, the 4 nerves often excurrent; grain about 2 mm. long, somewhat 

 truncate at the tip; staminate spikes pale green, 1-6 cm. long, of 6 to 30 

 congested spikelets that are 7- to 10-flowered, about 1 cm. long, 4 mm. broad; 

 first glume to 3 mm. long; second glume to 4 mm. long; lemmas 6- to 10-nerved, 

 3 mm. long; palea 2-keeled but otherwise nerveless, about 3 mm. long. 



Salt marshes near the coast, very abundant, rare in salt marshy areas inland 

 in e. Tex., summer-fall; Can. to Mex. along the coast; also W.I. 



Var. stricta (Torr.) Beetle. Culms 10-35 cm. tall, erect or rarely decumbent; 

 blades to 2 dm. long, the upper equaling or exceeding the pistillate spikes but 

 exceeded by the staminate ones; pistillate spike green drying stramineous-brown, 

 2-7 cm. long, of 5 to 40 approximate spikelets that are 5- to 20-flowered, 5-20 

 mm. long and 4-7 mm. broad, the mature florets often strongly reflexed, usually 

 not closely imbricate; first glume 2-3 mm. long; second glume 3-4 mm. long; 

 lemma 2.5-6 mm. long, firm, with a broad hyaline margin; palea 3-5 mm. long, 

 the keels conspicuously serrate to the base, often dentate, narrowed or winged at 

 base, occasionally with a few long hairs on back; grain 2-5 mm. long, sometimes 

 slenderly tapered to a single beak, sometimes truncate with a double beak; 

 staminate spike green or rarely purplish, drying stramineous-brown, 2-5 cm. long, 

 of 5 to 25 approximate spikelets that are 5- to 20-flowered, 5-20 mm. long 

 and 4-7 mm. broad, closely imbricate; first glume 2-3 mm. long; second glume 

 3-4 mm. long; lemmas 5-6 mm. long, firm, equalled by the palea; palea 5-6 

 mm. long, the keels conspicuously serrate to the base, infrequently dentate, rarely 

 broadly winged, usually with at least one prominent marginal vein. D. stricta 

 (Torr.) Rydb. 



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