Family: Poaceae |
Mary E. Barkworth Plants perennial; cespitose from knotty bases or rhizomatous. Culms 10-350 cm, erect, terete, solitary or in small to large clumps. Leaves mostly cauline; sheaths open, smooth, sometimes striate; ligules membranous, ciliate, cilia longer than the membranous bases; blades flat or involute. Inflorescences terminal, usually exceeding the upper leaves, 3-70 cm, panicles of 1-75 spikelike branches attached to an elongate rachis; branches racemosely arranged, alternate, opposite, or whorled, appressed to strongly divergent, axes 3-sided, spikelets usually sessile on the 2 lower sides, usually divergent to strongly divergent; disarticulation beneath the glumes. Spikelets laterally compressed, with 1 floret. Glumes unequal, strongly keeled; lower glumes shorter than the florets, 1-veined; upper glumes usually longer than the florets, 1-6-veined; lemmas shorter than the paleas, 1-3-veined, midveins keeled, lateral veins usually obscure; paleas thin, papery, 2-veined, obscurely keeled; anthers 3; lodicules sometimes present, truncate, vascularized; styles 2, plumose. Caryopses rarely produced. x = 10. Name from the Greek spartine, a cord made from Spartium junceum, probably applied to Spartina because of the tough leaves. SELECTED REFERENCES Ayres, D.R., D.R. Grotkopp, E. K. Zaremba, C.M. Sloop, M.J. Blum, J.P. bailey, C.K. Antilla, and D.R. Strong. 2008. Hybridization between invasive Spartina densiflora (Poaceae) and native S. foliosa in San francisco Bay, California, USA. Amer. J. Bot. 2008: 713-719; Coastal Conservancy. 2002. Invasive Spartina project. http://www.spartina.org/; ,Fortune, P.M. Schierenbeck,K, Ayres DR, Bortolus A, Catrice O, Brown S & Ainouche M. L. 2008. The enigmatic invasive Spartina densiflora: A history of hybridizations in a polyploidy context. Molecular Ecology 17: 4304–4316Gerish, W. 1979. Chromosomal analysis of a previously unidentified Spartina species. Masters thesis. Long Island University, Brookville, New York, U.S.A. [cited by Spicher and Josselyn]; Gould, F.W. 1958. Chromosome numbers in southwestern grasses. Amer. J. Bot. 45:757-767; Kartesz, J. and C.A. Meacham. 1999. Synthesis of the North American Flora, Version 1.0 (CD-ROM). North Carolina Botanical Garden, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, U.S.A.; Marchant, C.J. 1963. Corrected chromosome numbers for Spartina ×townsendii and its parent species. Nature 199(4896):929; Marchant, C.J. 1967. Evolution in Spartina (Gramineae). I. The history and morphology of the genus in Britain. J. Linn. Soc., Bot. 60:1-24; Marchant, C.J. 1968a. Evolution in Spartina (Gramineae). II. Chromosomes, basic relationships, and the problem of S. ×townsendii agg. J. Linn. Soc., Bot. 60:381-409; Marchant, C.J. 1968b. Evolution in Spartina (Gramineae). III. Species chromosome numbers and their taxonomic significance. J. Linn. Soc., Bot. 60:411-417; Mobberley, D.G. 1956. Taxonomy and distribution of the genus Spartina. Iowa State Coll. J. Sci. 30:471-574; Normile, D. 2004. Expanding trade with China creates ecological backlash. Science 306:968-969; Reeder, J.R. 1977. Chromosome numbers in western grasses. Amer. J. Bot. 64:102-110; Reeder, J.R. 1984. Poaceae. Pp. 102-103 in Á. Löve (ed.). Chromosome number reports LXXXII. Taxon 33:126-134; Reeder J.R. and D.N. Singh. 1967. Validity of the tribe Spartineae (Gramineae) [Abstract]. Amer. J. Bot. 54:656; Spicher, D. and M. Joselyn. 1985. Spartina (Gramineae) in northern California: Distribution and taxonomic notes. Madroño 32:158-167. |