Spartina foliosa
Spartina ×townsendii
California cord grass, Pacific cordgrass
cordgrass, Townsend's 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 150 cm, relatively hard, solitary or in small clumps.
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, throats pilose, lower sheaths often wrinkled;
ligules 1-1.8 mm;
blades 6-30 cm long, 4-12 mm wide, diverging 20-45° from the culms, flat proximally, involute distally, both surfaces glabrous, margins smooth.
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.
15-25 cm, with 2-10 branches;
branches 4-24 cm, loosely appressed, 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.
16-22 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.
mostly appressed pubescent, margins glabrous or sparingly hispidulous;
lower glumes 8-14 mm, linear, acuminate to obtuse;
upper glumes 16-22 mm, acuminate to obtuse;
lemmas mostly pubescent, keels glabrous near the base, margins glabrous throughout, apices obtuse to rounded or obscurely lobed;
anthers 5-10 mm, poorly filled, indehiscent at maturity.
= 60.
= 60, 60+2.
Spartina foliosa
Spartina ×townsendii
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 ×townsendii is a sterile hybrid between the European S. maritima and the American S. alterniflora. It seems to have formed spontaneously at several locations in Europe, often taking over the areas formerly occupied by its progenitors. At some locations it has given rise to the fertile amphiploid S. anglica, from which it differes morphologically in its narrower, less divergent upper blades, shorter ligules, shorter, less hairy spikelets, and poorly filled, indehiscent anthers. Spartina ×townsendii has been used throughout the world for tideland reclamation because it is easy to establish, but it displaces native species.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
CA
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
BC
WA
Flora NW
PNW Herbaria
