Puccinellia gigantea (Grossh.) Grossh.

1700-1800 m.

Perennial, loosely tufted, grayish green. Culms erect or geniculately ascending, 50–80(–100) cm tall. Ligule 1–3.5 mm, abaxial surface scabrid; leaf blades flat or inrolled, 5–15 cm, 1.5–4 mm wide, adaxial surface scabrous. Panicle 6–20 cm, contracted, but later spreading; branches 2–6 per node, basal primary branch 4–10 cm, scabrous. Spikelets 4–6 mm, usually purple, florets 3–7; glumes obtuse, lower glume 1.5–2 mm, 1-veined, upper glume 2–2.5 mm, 1–3-veined; lemmas 1.7–2.3(–2.5) mm, veins ± pubescent below, apex triangular-rounded; palea keels scabrid on upper part; anthers 1–1.4 mm. Fl. Jun–Jul. 2n = 14.

Tufted perennial; culms 20-80(-100) cm high, erect or geniculately ascending. Leaf-blades folded, rarely flat or convolute, 5-15 cm long, 1-2(-3.5) mm wide, green or glaucous, scabrid above. Panicle lanceolate to broadly ovate, 8-20(-25) cm long, loose to rather dense, the branches bare in the lower part, smooth, ascending at first, spreading or ± deflexed at maturity. Spikelets 5-7 mm long, 4-7-flowered, green or suffused with purple, sometimes also tinged with yellow; glumes oblong, acute, the lower 1-1.7 mm long, 1-nerved, the upper 1.5-2.5 mm long, 1-3-nerved; lemmas 2-3 mm long, oblong, truncate and shortly apiculate at the tip, ± hairy on the nerves below, the nerves not reaching the tip; palea keels glabrous or ciliolate below, scabrid above; anthers 1.2-1.6 mm long.

Qinghai, Xinjiang [Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Pakistan, E Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan; SW Asia (Caucasus, Iran), SE Europe].

Distribution: Pakistan (Baluchistan); Caucasus, Iran, Afghanistan and southern USSR.

Fl. & Fr. Per.: May.

Saline moist meadows, lake banks; 100–2000 m.

Atropis gigantea Grossheim, Vestn. Tiflissk. Bot. Sada 46: 35. 1919; A. anisoclada V. I. Kreczetowicz; A. sclerodes V. I. Kreczetowicz; Puccinellia anisoclada (V. I. Kreczetowicz) Parsa; P. sclerodes (V. I. Kreczetowicz) V. I. Kreczetowicz ex Drobow.