Spinifex littoreus (Burm. fil.) Merr.

This species is an efficient sand binder, forming large colonies and stabilizing dunes. The female inflorescences act as tumbleweeds. The seeds within are dispersed as the spiky head is transported along the coast by wind and sea.

Perennials; clum hard, stout, 30-100 cm or more tall, internode farinose. Blade 5-20 mm long, 2.3-3 mm wide, involute-subulate, curved, sharp pointed; sheath broad, overlapping; ligule a dense ring of hairs, 2-3 mm long. Staminate spikelets in umbellate spikes; rachis 4-9 cm long, pointed. Pistillate spikelets in a globose head; rachis 8-15 mm long. Staminate spikelets 8-12 mm long; glumes unequal, oblong-lanceolate, 7-9-veined, lower glume 4-6 mm long; lower lemma 5-veined, membranaceous; lower palea with keels winged and ciliate; upper lemma slightly indurate, palea not keeled; anther ca. 5.6mm long. Pistillate spikelets 10-12 mm long, narrowly lanceolate, smooth; lower glume oblong-lanceolate, many-veined; upper glume acute, 7-9-veined; lower lemma 5-veined, ovate-lanceolate; upper lemma lanceolate, smooth, ca. 10 mm long.

Culms stoloniferous, hard, stout, many-noded, rooting and copiously branching at nodes, flowering shoots ascending to 30–100 cm, internodes farinose. Leaf sheaths broad, rounded on back, imbricate; leaf blades distichous, very tough, involute-subulate, curved, 5–20 × 0.2–0.3 cm, margins scabrous, apex spiny; ligule densely ciliate. Staminate inflorescence of 2–5 clustered turbinate heads 5–10 × 6–8 cm; racemes 3–6 cm, bearing 5–10 loosely imbricate spikelets. Staminate spikelets lanceolate, 8–12 mm; glumes oblong-lanceolate, 7–9-veined, lower glume 1/2 spikelet length, upper glume 2/3 spikelet length; lower lemma 5-veined, 8–10 mm, palea with winged ciliate keels; upper lemma with unkeeled palea. Female inflorescence globose, 20–35 cm in diam.; racemes unispiculate with needle-like 10–18 cm rachis. Female spikelets lanceolate-oblong, 10–20 mm, acuminate; glumes oblong-lanceolate, low-er glume many-veined, upper glume 7–9-veined; lower lemma ovate-lanceolate, 5-veined, palea absent; upper lemma lanceolate, yellowish. Fl. and fr. summer-autumn.

India, Sri Lanks, Myanmar, Indochina, Malesia and S.China. Taiwan, in littoral sand dunes.

Sandy beaches, seashore dunes. Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Taiwan [Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam].

Stipa littorea Burm. f., Fl. Ind. 29. 1768.

Stipa littorea N. L. Burman, Fl. Indica 29. 1767; Spinifex squarrosus Linnaeus; Stipa spinifex Linnaeus.

Spinifex littoreus is a species of herb in the family Poaceae. The species is similar to Spinifex longifolius. It is native to tropical and subtropical areas of Asia and Australia.

The species is dioecious. It has been suggested that the species might give an significant model for studying the regulation as well as the evolutionary history of C4 and CAM photosynthesis.