Spartina foliosa
Spartina spartinae
California cord grass, Pacific cordgrass
gulf 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.
40-200 cm, in large clumps, hard, usually glabrous, nodes frequently exposed.
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.
mostly glabrous, throat glabrous, sometimes scabrous;
ligules 1-2 mm;
blades 1.5-4.5 mm wide, involute when fresh, abaxial surfaces glabrous, adax-ial surfaces and margins scabrous.
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.
6-70 cm, smoothly cylindrical in outline, with (6)15-75 branches, internodes shorter than the branches;
branches 0.5-4(7) cm, lower branches often longer than those above, all branches tightly appressed, closely imbricate, with 10-60 spikelets.
8-25 mm, usually appressed, often appearing twisted, those on the lower branches usually less closely imbricate than those on the upper branches.
5-8(10) 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.
glabrous or hispidulous, keels hispid;
lower glumes 2-8 mm, acuminate;
upper glumes 4-8(10) mm, acuminate to obtuse, keels hispid, lateral veins 1-2, if 2, these on either side of the keel;
lemmas 5-6 mm, glabrous or hispidulous, keels hispid over the distal 2/3, apices usually acuminate or apiculate, rarely obtuse;
anthers 3-5 mm, dark red to purple.
= 60.
= 40.
Spartina foliosa
Spartina spartinae
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 spartinae grows from the Gulf coast through Mexico to Costa Rica in North America and, in South America, in Paraguay and northern Argentina. In the United States, it grows in sandy beaches, roadsides, ditches, wet meadows, and arid pastures near the coast, the most inland collection being 60 miles from the coast. In other parts of its range it sometimes grows well inland in saline soils where Pinus palustris (longleaf pine) is dominant or co-dominant.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
CA
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
LA Plants
