Hainardia is a monotypic genus of grasses

Poaceae

The Poaceae is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of flowering plants. Members of this family are commonly called grasses, although the term "grass" is also applied to plants that are not in the Poaceae lineage, including the rushes and sedges...

 containing the single species Hainardia cylindrica, which is known by several common names, including barbgrass, hardgrass, and thintail. This grass is native to Eurasia and North Africa, but it can be found along coastlines in many parts of the temperate world. It is an annual grass of salt marsh

Salt marsh

A salt marsh is an environment in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and salt water or brackish water, it is dominated by dense stands of halophytic plants such as herbs, grasses, or low shrubs. These plants are terrestrial in origin and are essential to the stability of the salt marsh...

es and estuaries

Estuary

An estuary is a partly enclosed coastal body of water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea....

, thriving in saline and alkaline soils in aquatic habitats. It has a branching stem reaching a maximum height near half a meter. The thready leaves are ribbed and rough to the touch on the upper surfaces. The top few centimeters of the stem is made up of a cylindrical inflorescence

Inflorescence

An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Strictly, it is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed and which is accordingly modified...

with each spikelet embedded into it and dividing it into segments which can break off.

External links

• Jepson Manual Treatment
• USDA Plants Profile
• Grass Manual Treatment
• Photo gallery