Citation: Parl., Fl. Ital. 1:366 (1850).

Derivation: After Benedetto Puccinelli, 1808-1850, Professor of Botany at Lucca.

Synonymy: Not Applicable

Common name: Saltmarsh-grasses.

Description:
Tufted or creeping perennials or annuals; leaves flat.

Inflorescence a panicle; spikelets subterete, 3-10-flowered; rhachilla disarticulating between the florets; glumes unequal, 1-3-nerved, shorter than the florets, persistent; lemmas obtuse, rather faintly 5-nerved, rounded on the back, awnless.

Distribution:  Estimates vary from 25-100 species, from most temperate areas. (Key and descriptions adapted from Willis (1970) A handbook to plants in Victoria, and Clapham, Tutin & Warburg (1962) Flora of the British Isles).

Biology: No text

Key to Species:

1. Spikelets very densely clustered in a compact narrow-oblong (sometimes spreading later) panicle, each 2-7 mm long, 2-8-flowered; lemmas c. 2.5 mm long or less
2. Panicle branches 4-6 together, usually all long and bare below; midrib of lemma not reaching the tip; the veins of the lemma inconspicuous	P. distans 1.
2. Panicle branches 2-4 together, at least the very short ones with spikelets to the base; midrib of the lemma reaching the tip; veins of the lemma conspicuous	P. fasciculata 2.
1. Spikelets loosely arranged in a panicle at first narrow and erect (later often spreading diffusely), each 6-10 mm long, 6-12-flowered; lemmas 2-3 mm long, often loosely divergent	P. stricta 3.

Author: Not yet available