Six species and 11 varieties of the genus Distichlis Raf. were compared anatomically. The taxa studied were: Distichlis australis (Speg.) Villamil; D. humilis Phil.; D. palmeri (Vasey) Fassett ex I.M. Johnst.; D. scoparia (Nees ex Kunth) Arechav. var. erinacea (Beetle) Nicora and var. scoparia; and D. spicata (L.) Greene, represented by the following eight varieties: var. borealis (J. Presl) Beetle, var. divaricata Beetle, var. mendocina (J. Presl) Hack., var. mexicana Beetle, var. nana Beetle, var. spicata, var. stolonifera Beetle and var. stricta (Torr.) Scribn. Also included were two taxa for which the anatomical information was taken from the literature: Distichlis laxiflora Hack. and Distichlis spicata var. distichophylla (Michx.) Beetle. Fourteen anatomical characters of taxonomic value were found, seven in cross section and seven in the epidermis as seen in surface view. Distichlis australis and D. palmeri were found to differ from all of the other species. Distichlis humilis, D. scoparia and D. spicata form an anatomically homogeneous group, but with characteristics that distinguish each of them. Within Distichlis spicata, no anatomical character or combination of characters was found that would justify the recognition of infraspecific taxa and/or segregate species. For this reason, these taxa are considered to be synonyms of D. spicata.
