Spartina foliosa
Spartina bakeri
California cord grass, Pacific cordgrass
bunch cordgrass, sand cordgrass
to 150 cm tall, to 10 mm thick, erect, terete, solitary or in small clumps, succulent, glabrous, often with adventitious roots from the lower nodes, having an unpleasant, sulphurous odor when fresh.
to 200 cm, in large, dense clumps, indurate, often branching from the lower nodes.
mostly glabrous, throats sparsely pilose, lower sheaths sometimes somewhat wrinkled;
ligules 1-2 mm;
blades 8-12 mm wide, flat to loosely involute, glabrous, margins usually smooth, sometimes slightly scabrous, apices acuminate.
smooth to striate, glabrous;
ligules 0.5-2 mm;
blades 10-50 cm long, 3-7 mm wide, usually involute, rarely flat, abaxial surfaces glabrous, adaxial surfaces and margins scabrous, apices acuminate.
12-25 cm, with 3-25 branches, smoothly cylindrical, often partially enclosed in the uppermost sheath;
rachises twisted, glabrous;
branches 2-8 cm, usually closely appressed and twisted, lower branches noticeably longer and less closely imbricate than the upper branches, all branches with axes rarely extending past the distal spikelets, with 8-30 spikelets.
8-25 cm, usually shallowly sinuous or lobed in outline, with 3-16 branches;
branches 2-6 cm, usually appressed, moderately imbricate, axes glabrous, sometimes somewhat scabrous on the angles, with 10-30 spikelets.
8-25 mm, usually appressed, often appearing twisted, those on the lower branches usually less closely imbricate than those on the upper branches.
6-9 mm.
usually curved, sides and keels glabrous, scabrous, or hispid, apices acuminate to obtuse or rounded;
lower glumes 6-12 mm;
upper glumes 8-25 mm, 1-veined;
lemmas glabrous or sparsely appressed pubescent on the sides, keels glabrous, apices obtuse, rounded or lobed;
paleas slightly exceeding the lemmas, thin, papery, glabrous, apices usually rounded, rarely acuminate;
anthers 3-6 mm.
with hispid keels and hispidulous margins, apices acuminate;
lower glumes 3-6 mm, to 2/3 as long as the upper glumes;
upper glumes 6-9 mm, hispidulous, 3-4-veined, lateral veins 2-3, prominent, on 1 side of the keel;
lemmas mostly glabrous, keels hispid, margins glabrous or hispid, apices acute to obtuse, sometimes obscurely lobed;
anthers about 5 mm, well-filled, dehiscent at maturity.
= 60.
= 40.
Spartina foliosa
Spartina bakeri
Spartina foliosa grows in the intertidal zone from northern California to Baja California, Mexico. Populations in San Francisco Bay are threatened by various introduced species of Spartina. Of particular concern is S. alterniflora, which forms hybrids with S. foliosa that have a broader ecological amplitude than either parent. In California, S. foliosa is often confused with S. densiflora, which is also established in some regions, but S. foliosa differs from that species in being rhizomatous and having softer culms and wider leaf blades.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Spartina bakeri grows on sandy maritime beaches and other salt water sites in the southeastern coastal states and on the shores of inland, freshwater lakes in Florida. Its inflorescence is similar to that of S. patens, but the branches of S. patens usually diverge from the rachises at maturity, whereas those of S. bakeri remain appressed. Spartina bakeri is distinct from most other species of Spartina in North America in forming dense clumps and in being able to grow in freshwater habitats.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
CA
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
