Torrey's Surfgrass

Phyllospadix torreyi S. Wats. Proc. Am. Acad. 14 : 303. 1879
Stems simple or branched, flat, 3 dm. or more long ; leaves all submerged, linear, flat when very young, in maturity always complicate or truly terete, 0.8-2 m. long, 0.7-1.5 mm. wide, the apex obtuse or acute, the base sheathing ; primary nerves 1-3, or sometimes the leaf-blades nerveless ; inflorescence a curved or straight spadix, the spathe almost enclosing the flowers and splitting after anthesis ; peduncles cauline, mostly branched, in 2's or 3's, mostly 3-14 cm. long, and with numerous fugacious bracts, the bracts scarious, obtuse or acute, 1-3.5 cm. long; staminate flowers numerous, in 2 rows, consisting of sessile, 1celled anthers ; pistillate flowers of sessile ovaries ; mature fruit 1-seeded, flask-shaped, 2-3 mm. long, beaked by the persistent style at the apex, deeply cordate-sagittate at the base, with 2 projecting wings, and sometimes winged on the back ; seeds of a reddish tint* Numerous sterile flowers occur.
Type locality : Santa Barbara, California.
Distribution : Along the coast of California.