Common name
Quick Grass
English Couch
Twitch Grass
Rope Twitch

Derivation
Elytrigia Desv., Nouv. Bull. Soc. Philom. 2: 190 (1810); origin uncertain but possibly a contraction of Elymus and Triticum.

repens- from the Latin repo (crawl). Rhizome well developed.

Published in
Trudy Bot. Inst. Akad. Nauk Armjansk, SSR, ser. 1 1: 14 (1933) in adnot., fide Löve.

Common synonyms
Elymus repens (L.) Gould
Agropyron repens (L.) P.Beauv.
Agropyron repens (L.) P.Beauv. var. aristata Baumg.

Habit
Perennial, culms solitary or tufted. Rhizomes elongated. Young shoots extravaginal. Culms erect, 30–120 cm tall, 1–2 mm diam., 3–5-noded. Leaves cauline. Leaf-sheaths glabrous on surface or pilose. Leaf-sheath auricles present. Leaf-sheath auricles falcate. Leaf-sheath auricles 0.25 mm long. Ligule an eciliate or a fringed membrane, 0.3–1 mm long, hyaline or membranous, erose, truncate. Leaf-blades flat, 6–35 cm long, 3–10 mm wide, rigid to firm. Leaf-blade surface ungrooved, smooth or scaberulous, glabrous or puberulous to pilose. Leaf-blade margins smooth or scabrous. Leaf-blade apex acuminate, hardened.

Inflorescence
Inflorescence solid, a raceme. Peduncle glabrous. Raceme 1, erect, bilateral, 5–20 cm long. Rhachis flattened, pubescent on surface (sparsely), scabrous on margins. Spikelet packing broadside to rhachis, regular, 2-rowed.

Spikelets
Spikelets appressed, solitary. Fertile spikelets many flowered, comprising 3–8 fertile florets, with diminished florets at the apex, elliptic to oblong, laterally compressed, 8–20 mm long, 3–6 mm wide, falling entire. Spikelet callus glabrous, base truncate. Rhachilla internodes eventually visible between lemmas.

Glumes
Glumes similar, subequal in width. Lower glume lanceolate or oblong or ovate, 7–12 mm long, equalling upper glume, cartilaginous or coriaceous, 3–7-nerved. Lower glume lateral nerves ribbed. Lower glume surface scabrous. Lower glume apex acute, muticous or mucronate or awned. Upper glume lanceolate, 7–12 mm long, 70–80% of length of adjacent fertile lemma, coriaceous, 3–7-nerved. Upper glume lateral nerves ribbed. Upper glume surface scabrous. Upper glume apex acute, muticous to mucronate.

Florets
Fertile lemma lanceolate or elliptic or oblong or ovate, 8–13 mm long, coriaceous, keeled above, 5-nerved. Lemma midnerve scaberulous. Lemma apex acute or acuminate, muticous or 1-awned. Median (principal) awn 0–10 mm long overall, limb scabrous. Palea lanceolate, 80% of length of lemma, 2-nerved. Palea keels ciliolate. Palea apex truncate. Apical sterile florets resembling fertile though underdeveloped. Lodicules 2, elliptic, membranous. Anthers 3, 4 mm long. Stigmas 2, protandrous, laterally exserted. Ovary pubescent on apex. Grain with adherent pericarp, ellipsoid, terete, estipitate, not grooved, 5 mm long, smooth, apex unappendaged. Embryo 20% of length of grain. Hilum linear, 90% of length of caryopsis. Endosperm farinose.

Continental Distribution:
Europe, Africa, Temperate Asia, Tropical Asia, Australasia, North America, South America, Antarctica.

Australian Distribution:
Western Australia, South Australia, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania.

Western Australia: Menzies. South Australia: Flinders Ranges, Northern Lofty, Southern Lofty, South-eastern. New South Wales: South Coast, Northern Tablelands, Central Tablelands, Southern Tablelands, Central-Western Slopes, South-Western Slopes, South-Western Plains. Victoria: Wannon, Riverina, Midlands, Otway Plain, Gippsland Plains, Wilsons Promontory, East Gippsland. Tasmania: North West, North East, East Coast.

Classification. (GPWG 2001):
Pooideae: Triticeae

Notes
Indigenous to Europe and temperate Asia. Introduced to N and S America, New Zealand and all states of Australia except the Northern Territory and Queensland. Flowers Oct.–Mar.