Marram grass is a species of grass growing almost exclusively on sand dunes, where rhizomes on its extensive root system allow it to add nitrates to a very arid and wind swept ecosystem.
Marram has adapted to the harsh conditions of the Main Ridge sand dunes by having leaves which can fold to reduce surface area, are shiny and can be aligned to wind direction in order to reduce transpiration rates. Its extensive roots system allows it to tap into deep Ground water stores below the dunes, and have small rhizomes which produce necessary nitrates for the plants growth support.
To reconstruct the biogeographical history of the North American beachgrasses and to resolve the relationship of the Champlain beachgrass to the rest of the group, we undertook a study of DNA sequence variation in the ITS region of nuclear ribosomal DNA.
Topology of the ITS trees for Ammophila suggests that there was a single incursion of coastal beachgrasses into the continental interior.
Further, the association of Champlain and St. Lawrence ITS variants supports the hypothesis that interior populations were derived from populations in the northern Atlantic via the St. Lawrence Seaway.
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