Polypogon maritimus Willd.

Spice Inflorescence

Family: GRAMINEAE (POACEAE)

Genus: Polypogon

Sinònims: Polypogon maritimus Willd. subsp. maritimus

Province distribution: Alacant. Balearic Islands. Barcelona. Castelló. Girona. Lleida. Tarragona. València.

Distribution in the islands: Mallorca. Menorca. Ibiza. Formentera.

General distribution (Phytogeography): Cosmopolitan and subcosmopolitan

IUCN Category: LCLeast concern

Flowering time: JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

Life-forms: Terophyte.

Habitats: Litoral marshes and riparian. Non-saline wetlands (intermittent watercourses, streams, artesian wells, ditches). Therophytic calicole fields. Humid soils.

Characteristics: A small Gramene which lives near brackish water, ponds and moist soils in general. It has a compact panicle, silky to the touch; it can often be found with reddish or even purple colours, forming quite dense small meadows. The other species of the same genus, Polypogon monspeliensis, also lives in moist places but it is much larger with a panicle which normallly exceeds 10 cm, Polypogon maritimus subsp. subspathaceus rarely has such large panicles.