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Tuctoria
Tuctoria is a genus of three species of grass in the family Poaceae. Spiralgrass is a common name for plants in this genus. These are bunchgrass species that are found in vernal pools of central California and Baja California, Mexico. The plants are annuals that germinate under water in the spring and grow submerged for weeks. After the pools dry down, the grasses initiate a new set of foliage that lasts for one to two months until flowering and fruiting are complete.
Tuctoria species are endemic to seasonal pools in the southwestern US. Like all species in tribe Orcuttieae, the growth of Tuctoria species is initiated underwater. When pools dry, the plants undergo a metamorphosis whereby aquatic foliage is replaced with terrestrial foliage. The terrestrial foliage has Kranz anatomy, indicating the use of C-4 photosynthesis. This adaptation help the plants survive the longs periods of drought-like conditions experienced when the pools dry. In years with little rainfall, their seed banks remain dormant until a season of rainfall that is adequate to fill the pool basins. In T. greenei, germination is almost entirely dependent upon a combination of anaerobic conditions and light. This strategy helps the plant begin germination when pool basins are filled with water. In years of low precipitation, the soil subsurface is likely to be anaerobic or hypoxic, and inhibit germination.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Tuctoria by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts are shared under the same licence.
