SALTWATER COUCH

(Sporobolus virginicus)

(Photos : E. Cousins, growth habit, foliage; at Cape Jervis)

This is a very low-growing tussocky grass at Cape Jervis. It is seldom over shin high; often it is only a few centimetres tall. It can spread over the ground the same way a strawberry does, by producing runners: a new horizontal branch grows from the base of the plant, then a new plant roots from the tip of that new branch. Each plant has many branches or stems, and each of these has many stiff green blades placed alternately (and almost flatly) along the branch. The blades are about 25mm long. There are also numerous non-hairy nodes along a branch. You will find this growing along the foreshore at Cape Jervis, since it likes the saline environment of a coast or sand dunes. So on your next coastal walk, look for a fairly prickly little fellow growing close to the ground, a bit like a miniature fir tree growing as a ground cover!

RAT’S TAIL WEED

(Sporobolus africanus)

(Photos : C. Schultz, growth habit and flower spikes,  at Cape Jervis)

A perennial grass of the tussock variety, this weed originated in sub-Saharan Africa. It is quite invasive in our climate, spreading via small brown seeds. Unlike the Sporobolus virginicus (saltwater couch), this plant is erect and up to 60cm tall, with fairly thin but stiff stems. Leaves are also slender, stiff and not hairy. These leaves tend to grow about 18cm long from the base of the plant, and the sides roll in a bit. It is the flower heads that give the plant its common name though. These are spikes, grey-green against the dark green of the leaves. 35mm long and 7mm wide, densely packed with lots of teensy individual branches around the stem… you can understand why they are called rat’s tails!