Description
Synonym - This is a partial list; Hitchcock and Chase (1950) list 14 synonyms.
Potentially Misidentified Species - Pucciniellia fasciculata (Saltmarsh Alkakli-Grass) is rare in the Chesapeake Bay region. It was called 'adventive from Europe' by Tatnall (1946); but other sources (Fernald 1950; Gleason and Cronquist 1991) treat it as native to both North America and Eurasia.
Taxonomy
| Kingdom | Phylum | Class | Order | Family | Genus |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plantae | Magnoliophyta | Liliopsida | Cyperales | Poaceae | Pucciniella |
Synonyms
Invasion History
Chesapeake Bay Status
| First Record | Population | Range | Introduction | Residency | Source Region | Native Region | Vectors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1935 | Established | Stable | Introduced | Boundary Resident | Europe | Eurasia | Shipping(Dry Ballast) |
History of Spread
Puccinellia distans (Weeping Alkali-Grass) was first reported from North America as 'Glyceria distans' (Gray, 5th edition 1867) for 'salt marshes along the coast'. It was not included in the 1st edition of Gray's Manual of Botany (1848). Robinson and Fernald (1908) reported it from salt marshes and dry ballast (DE to New Brunswick). This grass was collected from dry ballast, New York, Philadelphia (Smith 1867; Brown 1879). It had spread into the interior of NY (Montezuma NY) by 1893, and occurred in salt flats on Onandaga Lake (1916), ans is spreading along salty roadsides in Great Lakes Region (Mills et al. 1993). Puccinellia distans is widespread in alkaline soil in western North America, British Columbia to CA and NM (Hitchcock 1935; Hitchcock and Chase 1950). In Delaware Bay, it was collected in 1896 on Christiana Creek in Wilmington DE (Tatnall 1946). The Delmarva peninsula appears to mark the southern limit of its range on the Atlantic coast (Fernald 1950; Hitchcock and Chase 1950; Harvill et al. 1992; Natural Resources Conservation Service 1998).
Puccinellia distans was not listed for MD by Shreve et al. 1910, but was shown as occurring in MD by Hitchcock (1935) and (Hitchcock and Chase 1950, range maps, no specific location). It was reported as 'rare' in 'wet soil' in Dorchester, Talbot, and Worcester Counties, (Brown and Brown 1984), and from salt marshes on Assateague Island (Hill 1986). The 'Atlas of the Virginia Flora' treated it as a 'waif' in Accomack County. VA (Harvill et al. 1992). We consider it a 'boundary resident' ocasionally occuring in salt or brackish marshes on the eastern shore of Chesapeake Bay, but also reported from 'pine forest' on Assateague Island (Higgins et al. 1971).
History References - Brown 1879; Gray 1867; Gray 1889; Harvill et al. 1992; Higgins et al. 1971; Hitchcock 1935; Hitchcock and Chase 1950; Mills et al. 1993; Natural Resources Conservation Service 1998; Shreve et al. 1910; Smith 1867; Tatnall 1946; Hill 1986
Invasion Comments
Invasion Status- We consider this species to be a 'Definite' introduction, but it is listed as 'Native', according to the USDA Plants database (Natural Resources Conservation Service 2002). It is listed as 'introduced' in every other sourcen which we have consulted.
Ecology
Environmental Tolerances
| For Survival | For Reproduction | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum | Maximum | Minimum | Maximum | |
| Temperature (ºC) | ||||
| Salinity (‰) | 0.0 | 0.0 | ||
| Oxygen | ||||
| pH | ||||
| Salinity Range | fresh-poly |
Age and Growth
| Male | Female | |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum Adult Size (mm) | ||
| Typical Adult Size (mm) | ||
| Maximum Adult Size (mm) | ||
| Maximum Longevity (yrs) | ||
| Typical Longevity (yrs |
Reproduction
| Start | Peak | End | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reproductive Season | |||
| Typical Number of Young Per Reproductive Event |
|||
| Sexuality Mode(s) | |||
| Mode(s) of Asexual Reproduction |
|||
| Fertilization Type(s) | |||
| More than One Reproduction Event per Year |
|||
| Reproductive Startegy | |||
| Egg/Seed Form |
Impacts
Economic Impacts in Chesapeake Bay
Puccinellia distans (Weeping Alkali-Grass) appears to be too rare in the Chesapeake region to have significant economic impacts.
Economic Impacts Outside of Chesapeake Bay
Puccinellia distans (Weeping Alkali-Grass) is apparently of no economic importance in the U.S. (Hitchcock and Chase 1950).
References- Hitchcock and Chase 1950
Ecological Impacts on Chesapeake Native Species
Puccinellia distans (Weeping Alkali-Grass) appears to be too rare in the Chesapeake region to have significant impacts on native species.
Ecological Impacts on Other Chesapeake Non-Native Species
Puccinellia distans (Weeping Alkali-Grass) appears to be too rare in the Chesapeake region to have significant impacts on other exotic species.
References
Brown, Addison (1879) Ballast plants in New York City and its vicinity, Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club 6: 353-360Brown, Melvin L.; Brown, Russell G. (1984) Herbaceous Plants of Maryland, , College Park. Pp.
Fernald, Merritt L. (1950) Gray's Manual of Botany, In: (Eds.) . , New York. Pp.
Gleason, Henry A.; Cronquist, Arthur (1991) Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada, In: (Eds.) . , Bronx, New York. Pp.
Gray, Asa (1867) A manual of botany of the northern United States., In: (Eds.) . , New York. Pp.
Gray, Asa (1889) A manual of botany of the northern United States., In: (Eds.) . , New York. Pp.
Harvill, A. M.; Bradley, Ted R.; Stevens, Charles E.; Wieboldt, Thomas F.; Ware, Donna M. E.; Ogle, Douglas W.; Ramsey, Gwynn W.; Fleming, Gary P. (1992) Atlas of the Virginia Flora, , Burkeville, VA. Pp.
Higgins, Elizabeth A. T.; Rappelye, Robert D.; Brown, Russell G. (1971) The flora and ecology of Assateague Island, University of Maryland Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin A-17: 1-61
Hill, Steven R. (1986) An annotated checklist of the vascular flora of Assateague Island (Maryland and Virginia), Castanea 51: 265-305
Hitchcock, A. S. (1935) Manual of Grasses of the United States., In: (Eds.) . , Washington, D.C.. Pp.
Hitchcock, A. S.; Chase, Agnes (1950) Manual of Grasses of the United States., In: (Eds.) . , Washington, D.C.. Pp.
Kartesz, John T. (1994) A synonymized checklist of the vascular flora of the United States, Canada, and Greenland., In: (Eds.) . , Portland OR. Pp.
Mills, Edward L.; Leach, Joseph H.; Carlton, James T.; Secor, Carol L. (1993) Exotic species in the Great Lakes: a history of biotic crises and anthropogenic introductions., Journal of Great Lakes Research 19: 1-54
1997-2024 USDA PLANTS Database.. Onine databse
Resource Management Inc. (1993) National list of plant species that occur in wetlands., , Minneapolis.. Pp.
Robinson, Benjamin Lincoln; Fernald, Merrit L. (1908) Gray's New Manual of Botany., , New York. Pp.
Shreve, Forrest M.; Chrysler, M. A.; Blodgett, Frederck H.; Besley, F. W. (1910) The Plant Life of Maryland, , Baltmore. Pp.
Smith, Aubrey H. (1867) On colonies of plants observed near Philadelphia, Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 19: 15-22
Tatnall, Robert R. (1946) Flora of Delaware and the Eastern Shore, , Wilmington. Pp.