Common name: Marram Grass
Ammophila arenaria (L.) Link APNI*
Description: Densely tufted perennial to 1.2 m high; culms rigid, few-noded, smooth.
Leaves with sheaths overlapping; ligule narrow, firm, 2-fid, 2–3 cm long; blade sharp-pointed, inrolled, to 6 mm wide when flattened, greyish green.
Panicle dense, narrow-oblong to lanceolate-oblong, cylindrical, tapering upwards, 7–25 cm long. Spikelets narrow-oblong, or gaping, 10–16 mm long. Glumes narrow, subequal, 1–5-nerved, minutely rough on the keels. Lemmas lanceolate, toothed near the apex. Palea 2–4-nerved.
Flowering: summer.
Distribution and occurrence: Planted as a sand binder on coastal dunes, often naturalized and replacing native species; south from Lake Macquarie. Native of Eur.
NSW subdivisions: *NC, *CC, *SC
Other Australian states: *Qld *Vic. *Tas. *W.A. *S.A.
Text by S. W. L. Jacobs & S. M. Hastings Taxon concept: Flora of NSW 4 (1993)
APNI* Provides a link to the Australian Plant Name Index (hosted by the Australian National Botanic Gardens) for comprehensive bibliographic data ***The AVH map option provides a detailed interactive Australia wide distribution map drawn from collections held by all major Australian herbaria participating in the Australian Virtual Herbarium project.
|