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Puccinellia distans; photograph author not stated, no rights reserved CC0author not stated, no rights reserved · observed growing wild · 2026-07-15

Puccinellia distans (Jacq.) Parl.

Weeping alkaligrass; European alkali grass; Spreading alkaligrass; Reflexed-salt grass

Poaceae · Denmark, Finland +72

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Puccinellia distans, photograph (c) Quinten Wiegersma, some rights reserved (CC BY)Puccinellia distans, photograph (c) Quinten Wiegersma, some rights reserved (CC BY)Puccinellia distans, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedPuccinellia distans, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedPuccinellia distans, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedPuccinellia distans, photograph author not stated, no rights reserved 85 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
-4.8°C
Record low -13.5 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
20°C
Jul and Aug at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
776mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
4–34DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Rain spread: 70% of the median year's rain takes 8 months, so no short rainy season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Puccinellia distans is a species of grass known by the common names weeping alkaligrass and European alkali grass. It is native to Europe and it is present in most of North America, where it is perhaps an introduced species. It grows in moist habitat, usually in areas with saline soils, such as the edges of salted roads. It is a perennial herb producing hollow stems up to 40 to 60 centimeters in maximum height. More on Wikipedia ›

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Puccinellia distans", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads no short rainy season: 70% of the median year's rain (558 mm of 769 mm) takes 8 months, June to January. Mean temperature moves 15.3 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: December to July.

Rain

769 mm in the median year at the habitat, 558 mm of it June to January. Wettest months (2 at 74 mm), driest months (2 at 49 mm). Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 603 mm to 1,252 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 776 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 769 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 4 to 34 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 1, the highest 90th-percentile month 38).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is -4.8 °C, the absolute minimum -13.5 °C, 2,909 frost nights in 44 years, 66.1 a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 22.0 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low -0.7 °C in February (across the grid cells of the range -8.6 °C to 2.4 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 20.4 °C in July (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: -4.8 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 60 to 68% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected -2 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Puccinellia distans through the yearWarmest months July and August, mean daily high 20 °C; coldest month February, mean nightly low -0.7 °C; 769 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.-20°-10°0°10°20°30°frost22.0° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-13.5° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0255075100125mm rainDLI 4–34RH 60–68%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 1369 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C4 / -3–75 / -3–78 / 1–1011 / 6–1315 / 11–1818 / 14–2020 / 17–2320 / 17–2217 / 13–1813 / 8–148 / 3–104 / -1–7
Night °C-1 / -8–3-1 / -9–21 / -5–44 / 0–57 / 5–911 / 8–1213 / 11–1513 / 11–1510 / 8–137 / 3–93 / -2–60 / -6–3
Rain mm63 / 42–11149 / 34–8556 / 35–9549 / 33–8157 / 42–9367 / 53–9672 / 54–10374 / 57–11067 / 54–10874 / 54–12272 / 54–11569 / 50–114
DLI5 / 2–89 / 6–1316 / 14–2026 / 24–3033 / 31–3634 / 32–3833 / 30–3727 / 24–3019 / 16–2211 / 8–146 / 3–84 / 1–6
RH %67 / 64–7165 / 62–6963 / 61–6661 / 58–6360 / 57–6361 / 58–6361 / 59–6462 / 59–6463 / 61–6565 / 63–6767 / 65–7068 / 65–71
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 1369 grid cells on land that hold in-range records (1442 records in those cells; 91 more cells hold records but no land by the elevation layer, so those records sit at sea and the cells are left out), with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 653:3528 (57.325, -3.575). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -13.5 °C, 1st-percentile night -4.8 °C, 99th-percentile day 22.0 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 1369 distinct grid cells holding 1442 of the 1536 in-range records (91 further cells with records at sea, by the elevation layer, left out); extremes and elevation at the typical cell 653:3528 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 57.50_-3.750, lapse-corrected -2 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 224 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeDenmark, Finland, Føroyar, Great Britain, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Austria, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Hungary, Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland, Baleares, France, Portugal, Spain, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Romania, Turkey-in-Europe, Yugoslavia, Belarus, Baltic States, Krym, Central European Russia, East European Russia, North European Russia, South European Russia, Northwest European Russia, Ukraine, Altay, Buryatiya, Irkutsk, Krasnoyarsk, Tuva, West Siberia, Yakutskiya, Amur, Kamchatka, Khabarovsk, Kuril Is., Magadan, Primorye, Sakhalin, Kazakhstan, Kirgizistan, Turkmenistan, Tadzhikistan, Uzbekistan, North Caucasus, Transcaucasus, Afghanistan, East Aegean Is., Iran, Lebanon-Syria, Palestine, Turkey, China South-Central, Inner Mongolia, Manchuria, China North-Central, Qinghai, China Southeast, Xinjiang, Mongolia, Korea, Pakistan, West Himalaya, Alaska · introduced: Cape Provinces, Japan, New South Wales, South Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand North, New Zealand South, Greenland, Yukon, Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Labrador, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward I., Québec, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, Nebraska, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Connecticut, Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode I., Vermont, West Virginia, Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, Virginia · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker53.086, -0.792 · in the densest population, 742 records (41% of those in range)
Kew's description“perennial or annual” · “temperate” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 1811 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 1442 of them in the land cells it reads, of 1536 placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 1163 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 228 km away. 34 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 275 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 1811 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Puccinellia distans, photograph 1did not loadPuccinellia distans, photograph 2did not loadPuccinellia distans, photograph 3did not loadPuccinellia distans, photograph 4did not loadPuccinellia distans, photograph 5did not loadPuccinellia distans, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Quinten Wiegersma, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); author not stated, no rights reserved · CC0 (4).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Arctium nemorosum Arctium nemorosum Wood burdock Photo: CC0, author not statedPotamogeton obtusifolius Potamogeton obtusifolius Blunt-leaved pondweed Photo: CC BY, Dustin SniderHolcus mollis Holcus mollis Creeping soft-grass Photo: CC BY, Bartosz CzołczyńskiJuncus bulbosus Juncus bulbosus Bulbous rush Photo: CC0, author not statedPilosella officinarum Pilosella officinarum Mouse-ear hawkweed Photo: CC0, author not statedCarlina vulgaris Carlina vulgaris Carline thistle Photo: CC0, author not stated

Other Puccinellia 1 in the reference

Puccinellia maritima Puccinellia maritima Common saltmarsh-grass Photo: CC BY, Matthew Flood

Names & registers

Also known as Aira aquatica var. distans; Aira brigantiaca; Aira miliacea; Atropis capillaris; Atropis distans and 150 more. (GBIF Backbone)

Kew accepts as species of their own Puccinellia capillaris: older names in GBIF's record of this species that Kew's World Checklist accepts as other species. (WCVP, RBG Kew, file of 2026-06-04)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Poaceae
Described by
(Jacq.) Parl.
Native to
Denmark, Finland, Føroyar +71
Wild records
1811 in range · 1163 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 13 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (8 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 2 at a herbarium, 3 at a zoo; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 57.50_-3.750, lapse-corrected -2 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 155 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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