Desmazeria philistaea

When revising the Poaceae of the herbarium Huter kept at the Episcopal Seminary Vincentinum, in Bressanone (Brixen), T. Wilhalm (Naturmuseum Südtirol, Bolzano) recognised that the grass specimen from the surroundings of Bari (Italy), labelled as Sclerochloa maritima Sweet (= Cutandia maritima (L.) Barbey), in fact represents Desmazeria philistaea. Rupert Huter (1834–1919), priest and botanist, together with his friends Pietro Porta and Georgio Rigo, collected the plant, probably casually introduced from abroad, on their 1875 journey to S Italy. Never since has this species been encountered in either Italy or any other European country.