Perennial, tufted, long rhizomatous; culms creeping extensively and rooting from lower nodes
Leaf blade rigid, convolute, pungent; ligule an unfringed membrane
Inflorescence a dense, spike-like panicle, cylindrical; spikelets sessile or shortly pedicelled
Spikelet strongly laterally compressed, disarticulating above glumes, rachilla extension present; glumes 10 mm and longer, ± equal to, to longer than spikelet, keeled, acute, awnless; lower glume 1-nerved; upper glume 1-3-nerved
Floret 1, bisexual; lemma lanceolate, similar in texture to glumes, glabrous, keeled, 5-7-nerved, 2-lobed with subapical mucro; callus short, hairy; palea almost equalling lemma, 2-4-nerved
Lodicules 2
Stamens 3
Ovary glabrous
Caryopsis ellipsoid
x = 7 (high polyploidy)
Nomenclature:
*Ammophila Host
Host: 24 (1809)
Chippindall: 93 (1955)
Clayton & Renvoize: 136 (1986)
Gibbs Russell et al.: 38 (1990)
Watson & Dallwitz: 97 (1994)
Distribution & Notes:
Global: Species 2, north temperate
Southern Africa: Species 1: *Ammophila arenaria (L.) Link, naturalised, used for reclamation work on sand dunes in southern Cape region
References:
CHIPPINDALL, L.K.A. 1955. A guide to the identification of grasses in South Africa. In D. Meredith, The grasses and pastures of South Africa. Central News Agency, Cape Town
CLAYTON, W.D. & RENVOIZE S.A. 1986. Genera graminum. Grasses of the world. Kew Bulletin. Additional series 13
GIBBS RUSSELL, G.E., WATSON, L., KOEKEMOER, M., SMOOK, L., BARKER, N.P., ANDERSON, H.M. & DALLWITZ. M.J. 1990. Grasses of southern Africa. Memoirs of the Botanical Survey of South Africa No. 58
WATSON, L. & DALLWITZ, M.J. 1994. The grass genera of the world, revised edn. CAB International, Oxon
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Welcome to Biodiversity Advisor 2.0!
Biodiversity Advisor, developed by the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) and its Data Partners, is a system that will provide integrated biodiversity information to a wide range of users who will have access to geospatial data, plant and animal species distribution data, ecosystem-level data, literature, images and metadata.
The integrated information comes from our much-loved Botanical Database of Southern Africa (BODATSA) also known as Plants of Southern Africa (POSA), Zoological Database of Southern Africa (ZODATSA), Biodiversity Geographic Information System (BGIS), SANBI's institutional repository (Opus) and others.
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