Common name
Sand Couch
Marine Couch
Salt Couch
Mud Grass
Broomsedge

Derivation
Sporobolus R.Br., Prodr. 169 (1810); from the Greek spora (seed) and bolos (throwing), alluding to the free seed and (presumably) the sometimes forcible manner of its release.

virginicus- from Virginia, USA.

Published in
Rev. Gram. 1:67 (1829).

Common synonyms
S. virginicus var. minor F.M.Bailey ex B.K.Simon
S. virginicus var. pallidus Benth.

Habit
Perennial, mat forming. Rhizomes elongated. Stolons absent or present. Culms erect or decumbent, 10–50 cm tall, 1–2 mm diam. Lateral branches branched. Leaves distichous. Ligule a fringe of hairs, 0.25 mm long. Leaf-blades linear, flat or convolute, 2–13 cm long, 1–4 mm wide, rigid. Leaf-blade apex pungent.

Inflorescence
Inflorescence solid, a panicle. Panicle contracted or spiciform, linear, 2–15 cm long, (0.3–)0.6–0.8(–1) cm wide, evenly furnished. Primary panicle branches appressed, 0.5–1.5 cm long. Panicle branches glabrous in axils.

Spikelets
Spikelets solitary. Pedicels 1–4 mm long. Fertile spikelets 1-flowered, comprising 1 fertile floret, without rhachilla extension, lanceolate, terete, 1.7–4 mm long, breaking up at maturity. Spikelets disarticulating below each fertile floret.

Glumes
Glumes deciduous, similar. Lower glume linear or lanceolate, 1.2–3.5 mm long, 66–80% length of upper glume, membranous, 1–2-nerved. Lower glume lateral nerves absent. Lower glume apex acute. Upper glume lanceolate or ovate, 1.7–3.6 mm long, equalling adjacent fertile lemma, membranous, 1-nerved. Upper glume lateral nerves absent. Upper glume apex acute.

Florets
Fertile lemma lanceolate or ovate, 1.7–3.6 mm long, membranous, 1-nerved. Lemma apex acute. Palea 2-nerved. Palea keels approximate. Palea apex lobed, 2-fid, acute. Anthers 3, 0.9–1.8 mm long. Grain with free soft pericarp, ovoid or orbicular, 0.7–0.9 mm long.

Continental Distribution:
Europe, Africa, Temperate Asia, Tropical Asia, Australasia, Pacific, North America, South America.

Australian Distribution:
Western Australia, Northern Territory, South Australia, Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania.

Western Australia: Gardner, Fitzgerald, Dampier, Canning, Fortescue, Carnarvon, Austin, Irwin, Drummond, Menzies, Warren, Eyre, Avon. Northern Territory: Darwin & Gulf, Barkly Tableland, Central Australia North, Central Australia South. South Australia: Lake Eyre, Nullabor, Gairdner-Torrens Basin, Flinders Ranges, Eyre Peninsula, Northern Lofty, Murray, Yorke Peninsula, Southern Lofty, Kangaroo Island, South-eastern. Queensland: Cook, Burke, North Kennedy, South Kennedy, Port Curtis, Leichhardt, Burnett, Wide Bay, Moreton, Mitchell. New South Wales: North Coast, Central Coast, South Coast, Northern Tablelands, Southern Tablelands. Victoria: Wimmera, Wannon, Grampians, Victorian Volcanic Plain, Otway Plain, Otway Range, Gippsland Plains, East Gippsland. Tasmania: Furneaux Group, North East, East Coast.

Classification. (GPWG 2001):
Chloridoideae: Cynodonteae

Notes
Native; all coastal regions and also many inland regions with saline influence; Eastern Asia, Africa, and the Pacific region. Mainly restricted to maritime habitats with some records also from saline localities areas from inland and central Australia; flowers all year, but mainly during the warm months.