Shining Nit Grass

Triplachne nitens

Triplachne
nitens grows in the Acre Valley (Galilee coast) and on the Carmel
Coast on nine sites, and according to estimates there are ten sites. In the Acre
Valley it is found from the Betset and Akhziv beaches to Shave Tsion and Hatsrot
Yesef. On the Carmel Coast it is found only on the Neve Yam Beach; it was not
found at the Atlit and HaBonim beaches, where it is extinct.

Coastal sands together
with herbaceous vegetation at the edge of coastal scrubland.

Triplachne nitens
is the only species in its genus. It is a small, unobtrusive grass that is
extremely similar in its general appearance, particularly in its elongated inflorescence
to several Gramineae (Poaceae) species, among them Gastridium and Rostraria
species that are found throughout Israel and not just on the coast. The Gastridium
species are quite rare; they too have single floret spikelets but differ in
their glumes that have a swollen base and a single-awned flower. The Rostraria
species are more common and they differ in their multi-flowered spikelets. R.
cristata (characterized by a palea with two short spines), R. smyrnacea
(palea that terminates in two short bristle-like awns) and R. obtusiflora
(characterized by a lemma with rounded lobes).

·        
The number of
regions in which Triplachne nitens grows is stable,
but the number of its sites has apparently decreased.

·        
The T. nitens populations at different sites generally number a few hundred plants.

·        
Coastal regions in
Israel are subject to strong pressure from human use and the natural open
spaces are continually diminishing. This habitat loss is probably the main
cause underlying the extinction on the two sites on the Carmel Coast.

·        
T. nitens is protected in the Rosh HaNikra Coastal Reserve.

·        
The species is
included in the Red Book of Cyprus (Tsintides et al., 2007), where it is found at
11 sites on beaches around the island. It is threatened by tourism development of
some sites and by reduction of natural vegetation landscapes on others.

Triplachne
nitens should be monitored in the Galilee coastal sites. The
development of the coastal area north of Nahariya, where additional rare
species grow, should be prevented.

Triplachne
nitens
has a disjunct Mediterranean distribution: Israel, Cyprus,
southern Turkey, Sicily, Sardinia, Spain, North Africa and the Canary Islands.

Triplachne
nitens is a rare annual grass of sandy beaches in the Acre
Valley and on the Carmel Coast. Israel is at the eastern edge of its geographic
range. Threats of coastal development endanger the populations.