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English Couch
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| English Couch photos | Family: Grass (Poaceae syn. Graminae) |
| Scientific Name: | Elytrigia repens (syn. Agropyron repens, Elymus repens) |  English Couch plants Photo: A J Brown | |||||
Other Common Names: | Rope Twitch, Twitch-grass, Quick-grass, Quitch-grass, Witch-grass, Quackgrass, Dog-grass, Scotch Quelch | ||||||
Status: | Native to southern Europe, Asia, north-west Africa. | ||||||
Plant Description: | Rhizomatous perennial grass with decumbent to erect stems to 1 m tall (but often much shorter). Leaves are smooth to slightly rough, flat or somewhat channelled, 10-20 cm long and 3-10 mm wide and generally hairy of the upper surface. Flower-head a spike, 5-15 cm long with 12-25 spikelets, arranged with their flat sides facing the flower stem (rachis). Each spikelet 8-17 mm long and of 5-7 flowers. | ||||||
Habitat: | Scattered around Port Phillip Bay and in a few inland sites. Occasional weed of damp and swampy land including coastal sands. Has some salt and waterlogging tolerance.
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Comments: | Similar to Tall Wheat-grass (Lophopyrum ponticum) but forms extensive mats instead of large tussocks and has a much smaller flower-head. | ||||||
 Leaves of English Couch Photo: A J Brown |  Auricles at stem and leaf junction of English Couch Photo: A J Brown |
 Mature flower spikes of English Couch Photo: A J Brown |  English Couch spikelets Photo: A J Brown |
 Mature spikelets of English Couch Photo: A J Brown |
