Spartina cynosuroides

Spartina cynosuroides
botanical garden specimen
Conservation status

Secure  (NatureServe)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Monocots
(unranked): Commelinids
Order: Poales
Family: Poaceae
Genus: Spartina
Species: S. cynosuroides
Binomial name
Spartina cynosuroides
(L.) Roth

Spartina cynosuroides is a species of grass known by the common names big cordgrass and salt reedgrass. It is native to the East Coast and Gulf Coast of the United States, where it grows in coastal habitat such as marshes, lagoons, and bays.[1]

This species is a rhizomatous perennial grass which can grow up to 10 feet tall. The leaves are up to 24 inches long and up to an inch wide. The ligule is hairy. The stem can be ¾ of an inch in diameter at the base. The inflorescence contains up to 40 spikes each up to 3 inches long.[2]

This grass grows in flooded saline soils such as those in salt marshes. It is associated with marsh-hay cordgrass (Spartina patens) and common reed (Phragmites australis).[2]

References

  1. Spartina cynosuroides. Grass Manual Treatment.
  2. 2.0 2.1 Spartina cynosuroides. USDA NRCS Plant Fact Sheet.

External links