|Spartina subsp. var.||Cord grass, Marsh grass|
Spartina, commonly known as cordgrass or cord-grass, is a genus of 14 species of grasses in the family Poaceae. They are native to the coasts of the Atlantic Ocean in western and southern Europe, northwest and southern Africa, the Americas and the southern Atlantic Ocean islands; one or two species also occur on the North American Pacific Ocean coast and in freshwater habitats inland in the Americas. The highest species diversity is on the east coasts of North America and South America, particularly Florida.
They form large, often dense colonies, particularly on coastal salt marshes, and grow quickly. The species vary in size from 0.3-2 m tall. Many of the species will produce hybrids if they come into contact.
Three of the Spartina species have become invasive plants in some countries.
|Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture|
Spartina (Greek, spartine, a cord, referring to the tough leaves). Gramineae. Perennial marsh-plants of various parts of the world, most or all of which are found in the U. S.: culms rigid and reed-like: lvs. coarse and rough, usually becoming rolled inward: spikelets 1-fld., strongly flattened, sessile, closely imbricated in 2 rows on one side of a narrow rachis; spikes 2 to several in a raceme.—Species about 10, most of them found in saline marshes of the seacoast.
S. cynosuroides, Roth (S. polystachya, Willd.), on the Atlantic and S. foliosa, Trin., on the Pacific coast act as mud-binders and are important factors in the natural reclamation of salt-marshes. In England, S. stricta, Roth, and S. Townsendii, Groves, perform the same service. S. alterniflora, Loisel., is common to the British Isles and the St. Lawrence and New England coasts.— A yellow-margined form (S. cynosuroides var. aureo-marginata) is shown in G. 31:171. CH
Pests and diseases
Selected species and hybrids:
- Spartina alterniflora Loisel. – Smooth Cordgrass (eastern North America)
- Spartina anglica C.E.Hubb. – Common Cordgrass (cultivated origin)
- Spartina bakeri – Sand Cordgrass
- Spartina × caespitosa
- Spartina cynosuroides – Big Cordgrass
- Spartina densiflora – Denseflower Cordgrass
- Spartina foliosa – California Cordgrass
- Spartina gracilis – Alkali Cordgrass
- Spartina maritima (Curtis) Fernald – Small Cordgrass (western Europe)
- Spartina patens (Aiton) Muhl – Saltmeadow Cordgrass
- Spartina pectinata Bosc ex Link – Prairie Cordgrass (central North America; freshwater)
- Spartina spartinae – Gulf Cordgrass
- Spartina × townsendii (S. alterniflora × S. maritima)