Mediterranean Rabbitsfoot Grass

Annual, tufted. Culms erect or geniculate, up to 35 cm tall. Leaf sheaths scabrid, uppermost slightly inflated; ligule 1–6 mm, apex irregularly toothed; leaf blades linear, 5–10 cm, 1–5 mm wide, both surfaces scabrid, apex acuminate. Panicle dense, spikelike, sometimes lobed, 5–7 cm, often purple tinged. Spikelets 2–3 mm, yellowish green; glumes obovate-oblong, hispid, margins ciliate, apex deeply 2-lobed, lobes obtuse, awned from sinus; awn 6–7 mm; lemma 1–1.2 mm, awnless; palea as long as lemma. Stamens 3, anthers 0.3–0.4 mm. Caryopsis obovate-oblong, 0.7–0.9 mm. Fl. and fr. Jun–Aug.

Xinjiang [Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Russia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan; N Africa, SW Asia, Europe; introduced in North America].

Moist grassland on mountain slopes, marshy meadows; 400–3300 m.

Polypogon maritimus Wilid. Ges. Nat. Freunde Berlin Neue Schr. 3: 443. 1801.
Alopecurus maritimus Poir. in Lam. Encyc. 8: 779. 1808. (Based on Polypogon maritimus Willd.) Polypogon monspeliensis var. maritimus Coss. & Dur. in Durieu, Expl. Sci. Alger. Bot. 2: 70. 1855. (Based on P. maritimus Willd.)
Annual; culms erect or ascending, sometimes decumbent at base, glabrous; sheaths glabrous; ligule as much as 6 mm. long, scaberulous, weakly nerved, narrowed to a usually lacerate tip; blades scabrous, usually not more than 5 cm. long, 2-4 mm. wide; panicle less dense than in P. monspeliensis, often interrupted, usually not more than 5 cm. long; glumes 2.5-3 mm. long, hispidulous below, the deep lobes ciliate-fringed, the awns 7-10 mm. long.
Type locality: France.
Distribution: Georgia (Tybee Island) and California (Napa, New York Falls); rare; native of the Mediterranean Region.

Annuals, Aquatic, leaves emergent, Terrestrial, not aquatic, Stems nodes swollen or brittle, Stems erect or ascending, Stems geniculate, decumbent, or lax, sometimes rooting at nodes, Stems terete, round in cross section, or polygonal, Stem internodes hollow, Stems with inflorescence less than 1 m tall, Stems, culms, or scapes exceeding basal leaves, Leaves mostly cauline, Leaves conspicuously 2-ranked, distichous, Leaves sheathing at base, Leaf sheath mostly open, or loose, Leaf sheath smooth, glabrous, Leaf sheath and blade differentiated, Leaf sheath enlarged, inflated or distended, Leaf blades linear, Leaf blades 2-10 mm wide, Leaf blades mostly flat, Leaf blades mostly glabrous, Leaf blades scabrous, roughened, or wrinkled, Ligule present, Ligule an unfringed eciliate membrane, Inflorescence terminal, Inflorescence a dense slender spike-like panicle or raceme, branches contracted, Inflorescence solitary, wi th 1 spike, fascicle, glomerule, head, or cluster per stem or culm, Inflorescence spike ovoid, lanceolate, or oblong, not more than twice as long as wide, Inflorescence single raceme, fascicle or spike, Inflorescence branches more than 10 to numerous, Flowers bisexual, Spikelets pedicellate, Spikelets laterally compressed, Inflorescence or spikelets partially hidden in leaf sheaths, subtended by spatheole, Spikelet less than 3 mm wide, Spikelets with 1 fertile floret, Spikelets solitary at rachis nodes, Spikelets all alike and fertille, Spikelets bisexual, Spikelets disarticulating below the glumes, Spikelets falling with parts of disarticulating rachis or pedicel, Rachilla or pedicel glabrous, Glumes present, empty bracts, Glumes 2 clearly present, Glumes equal or subequal, Glumes equal to or longer than adjacent lemma, Glume equal to or longer than spikelet, Glumes awned, awn 1-5 mm or longer, Glumes keeled or winged, Glumes 1 nerved, Glume saccate, inflated, or flabellat e, Glume margins or apex erose-ciliate, Glumes prominently lobed, Lemmas thin, chartaceous, hyaline, cartilaginous, or membranous, Lemma 5-7 nerved, Lemma glabrous, Lemma apex truncate, rounded, or obtuse, Lemma awnless, Lemma margins thin, lying flat, Lemma straight, Palea present, well developed, Palea membranous, hyaline, Palea about equal to lemma, Palea 2 nerved or 2 keeled, Stamens 3, Styles 2-fid, deeply 2-branched, Stigmas 2, Fruit - caryopsis.

Polypogon maritimus is a species of grass known by the common names Mediterranean beard grass and Mediterranean rabbitsfoot grass. It is native to the Mediterranean Basin. It is also known in other parts of the world, including Australia, New Zealand, and the United States, as an introduced species that can be found in moist habitat types. It is an annual grass producing stems up to half a meter tall. The inflorescence is a plumelike panicle up to 15 centimeters long containing many V-shaped spikelets with long awns.