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Puccinellia nutkaensis
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Monocots
Clade:	Commelinids
Order:	Poales
Family:	Poaceae
Subfamily:	Pooideae
Genus:	Puccinellia
Species:	P. nutkaensis
Binomial name
Puccinellia nutkaensis (J.Presl) Fernald & Weath.

Puccinellia nutkaensis is a species of grass known by the common names Nootka alkaligrass and Alaska alkali grass. It is native to North America from Alaska across northern Canada to Greenland and Nova Scotia, and down to Washington to Oregon to the Central Coast of California.

Description

Puccinellia nutkaensis is a perennial bunchgrass which is quite variable in appearance, taking a petite, clumpy form or growing erect to 90 centimeters in height with robust inflorescences. It sometimes roots at stem nodes that become buried in moist substrate, and forms dense stands.

A species of leafhopper, Macrosteles fascifrons, is associated with this grass in Alaska, remaining on the grass even when it is submerged amid icebergs.

Habitat

It is a plant of the coastline in wet areas with rocky, sandy saline soils. A halophyte, the grass is used for revegetation of salt marshes and other habitat in the intertidal zone in Alaska, where it is valuable for its tolerance of heavy inundation in cold saltwater during high tides and storm surges.

References

1. NRCS. "Puccinellia nutkaensis". PLANTS Database. United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Retrieved 15 October 2015.
2. Grass Manual Treatment Archived 2011-06-11 at the Wayback Machine
3. ^ State of Alaska Revegetation Manual Archived 2010-05-28 at the Wayback Machine
4. DeLong, D. W. (1970). An Alaskan leafhopper that lives normally beneath icy tidal submergence. Ohio Journal of Science 70:2 111.

External links

• Jepson Manual Treatment
• USDA Plants Profile

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• Puccinellia
• Bunchgrasses of North America
• Grasses of the United States
• Grasses of Canada
• Native grasses of California
• Flora of Alaska
• Pooideae stubs