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Saltwater Cord Grass

Sporobolus alterniflorus (Loisel.) P. M. Peterson & Saarela

Associations

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Foodplant / feeds on
ascocarp of Buergenerula spartinae feeds on Spartina alterniflora

Foodplant / pathogen
ergot of Claviceps purpurea var. spartinae infects and damages live ovary of Spartina alterniflora

Foodplant / sap sucker
Prokelisia marginata sucks sap of Spartina alterniflora

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Associations

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Spartina alterniflora is distributed widely along the Atlantic coast from Newfoundland in North America south along the South American continent to Argentina. It is adapted to near shore habitats including salt marshes, mudflats and estuarine margins.

The aquatic grass, which has the common name Smooth cordgrass, has a rhizomous rooting system, and manifests stem lengths of about 1.5 meters, with emergent leaves. This species has a very efficient photosynthetic capability at temperatures lower than some other genus members. Combined with its high salinity tolerance, this characteristic allows Smooth cordgrass to outcompete and hybridize with certain genus members, when it appears as an alien species. This phenomenon has occurred in the British Isles and along the west coast of California.

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Comprehensive Description

provided by North American Flora
Spartina alterniflora Loisel. Fl. Gall. 719. 1807
Dactylis maritima Walt. Fl. Car. 77. 1788. (Type from South Carolina.) Not D. maritima
CurtU. 1787. Trachynotia alterniflora DC. Fl. Fr. 6: 279. 1815. (Based on Spartina alterniflora Loisel.) Spartina glabra Muhl.; Ell. Bot. S. C. & Ga. 1: 95. 1816.
Limnetis glabra Nutt. Gen. 1: 38, name only 1818; Eaton & Wright. N. Am. Bot. 301. 1840. (Presumably based on Spartina glabra Muhl.) Spartina laevigata Bosc; Link, Jahrb. Gewachsk. 1»; 92. 1820. (Type from North America, Bosc.) Spartina brasiliensis Raddi, Agrost. Bras. 21. 1823. (Type from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.) Spartina stricta var. alterniflora A. Gray. Man. ed. 2. 552. 1856. (Based on 5. alterniflora Loisel.) Spartina stricta var. glabra A. Gray, Man. ed. 2. 552. 1856. (Based on 5. glabra Muhl.) Spartina stricta maritima Scribn. Mem. Torrey Club 5: 45. 1894. (Based on Dactylis maritima
Walt.) Spartina glabra alterniflora Merrill, Bull. U. S. Dep. Agr. PI. Ind. 9: 9. 1902. (Based on Spartina
alterniflora Liosel.) Spartina glabra pilosa Merrill, Bull. U. S. Dep. Agr. PI. Ind. 9: 9. 1902. (Type from Atlantic
City. New Jersey, Scribner in 1895.) Spartina alterniflora var. glabra Femald, Rhodora 18: 178. 1916. (Based on 5. glabra Muhl.) Spartina allerniflora var. pilosa Femald, Rhodora 18; 179. 1916. (Based on S. glabra pilosa
Merrill.) Spartina maritima subsp. glabra St. Yves, Candollea 5; 24, 48. 1932. (Based on Spartina glabra
Muhl.) Spartina maritima subsp. glabra var. alternijlora Merrill; St. Yves, Candollea S: 25, 53. 1932.
(Based on 5. alternijlora Loisel.) Spartina maritima subsp. glabra var. alternijlora f. gracilis St. Yves, Candollea 5: 54. 1932. (Localities cited, England, France, Newfoundland.) Spartina maritima subsp. glabra var. brasitiensis St. Yves, Candollea S: 25, 56. 1932. (Based on
Spartina brasiliensis Raddi.) Spartina maritima subsp. glabra var. brasiliensis subvar. fallax St. Yves, Candollea 5: 57. 1932.
(Localities cited, British Guiana, Brazil.) Spartina maritima subsp. glabra var. brasiliensis subvar. Raddii St. Yves, Candollea 5: 56. 1932.
(Based on Spartina brasiliensis Raddi.) Spartina maritima subsp. glabra var. glabra A. Gray; St. Yves, Candollea S: 24, 49. 1932. (Based
on 5. glabra Muhl.) Spartina maritima subsp. glabra var. glabra subvar. pilosa St. Yves, Candollea S: 25, 51. 1932.
(Based on 5. glabra pilosa Merr.) XSpartina Merrillii A. Chevalier, Bull. Soc. Bot. France 80: 787. 1933. (Type from Long Island,
New York, Bicknell 11300.)
Culms 0.5-2.5 meters tall, erect in small tough clumps from usually widely spreading rhizomes, the intemodes of the rhizomes comparatively long with inflated sheaths; sheaths much longer than the intemodes, rounded, glabrous, the lower ones crowded, succulent; ligule ciliate, 1-2 mm. long; blades 15-60 cm. long, 5-12 mm. wide at the base, flat or becoming loosely rolled, acuminate, glabrous or the margins sparsely scabrous; panicle mostly 14-35 cm. long, rarely only 10 cm. long in depauperate specimens; spikes 5-12, rarely 1-4, 5-15 cm. long, narrowly ascending or appressed, sessile or sometimes peduncled, the rachis glabrous or sparsely hirsute on the margins; spikelets appressed, usually rather distant, or sometimes closely imbricate; gliunes glabrous or rarely pilose or hispid on the keels and margins, the first narrow, acute, half to three fourths as long as the lemma, the second subobtuse, often apiculate, longer than the lemma; lemma 8-12 mm. long, glabrous or sparsely pilose; palea a little longer than the lemma, subobtuse.
Type locality: France.
Distribution: Salt marshes along the coast, Quebec and Newfoundland, and southward to Florida and Texas; also along Atlantic coast of Europe; Trinidad; British Guiana to Argentina.
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bibliographic citation
Albert Spear Hitchcock, Jason Richard Swallen, Agnes Chase. 1939. (POALES); POACEAE (pars). North American flora. vol 17(8). New York Botanical Garden, New York, NY
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Physical Description

provided by USDA PLANTS text
Perennials, Aquatic, leaves emergent, Terrestrial, not aquatic, Rhizomes present, Rhizome elo ngate, creeping, stems distant, Stems nodes swollen or brittle, Stems erect or ascending, Stems solitary, Stems caespitose, tufted, or clustered, Stems terete, round in cross section, or polygonal, Plants aromatic or malodorous, Stem internodes solid or spongy, Stem internodes hollow, Stems with inflorescence 1-2 m tall, Stems with inflorescence 2-6 m tall, Stems, culms, or scapes exceeding basal leaves, Leaves mostly cauline, Leaves conspicuously 2-ranked, distichous, Leaves sheathing at base, Leaf sheath mostly open, or loose, Leaf sheath smooth, glabrous, Leaf sheath and blade differentiated, Leaf blades linear, Leaf blades 1-2 cm wide, Leaf blades 2 or more cm wide, Leaf blades mostly flat, Leaf blade margins folded, involute, or conduplicate, Leaf blades mostly glabrous, Ligule present, Ligule a fringe of hairs, Inflorescence terminal, Inflorescence solitary, with 1 spike, fascicle, glomerule, head, or cluster per stem or culm, Inflorescence a panicle with narrowly racemose or spicate branches, Inflorescence with 2-10 branches, Inflorescence branches more than 10 to numerous, Inflorescence branches 1-sided, Rachis angular, Flowers bisexual, Spikelets pedicellate, Spikelets sessile or subsessile, Spikelets laterally compressed, Spikelet less than 3 mm wide, Spikelets with 1 fertile floret, Spikelets solitary at rachis nodes, Spikelets all alike and fertille, Spikelets bisexual, Spikelets disarticulating below the glumes, Spikelets secund, in rows on one side of rachis, Rachilla or pedicel glabrous, Glumes present, empty bracts, Glumes 2 clearly present, Glumes distinctly unequal, Glumes equal to or longer than adjacent lemma, Glume equal to or longer than spikelet, Glumes keeled or winged, Glume surface hairy, villous or pilose, Glumes 1 nerved, Glumes 3 nerved, Lemmas thin, chartaceous, hyaline, cartilaginous, or membranous, Lemma 3 nerved, Lemma glabrous, Lemma body or surface hairy, Lemma apex truncate, rounded, or obtuse, Lemma apex ac ute or acuminate, Lemma awnless, Lemma margins thin, lying flat, Lemma straight, Palea present, well developed, Palea membranous, hyaline, Palea longer than lemma, Palea 2 nerved or 2 keeled, Stamens 3, Styles 2-fid, deeply 2-branched, Stigmas 2, Fruit - caryopsis.
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USDA PLANTS text

Sporobolus alterniflorus

provided by wikipedia EN

Sporobolus alterniflorus, or synonymously known as Spartina alterniflora, the smooth cordgrass,[1] saltmarsh cordgrass, or salt-water cordgrass, is a perennial deciduous grass which is found in intertidal wetlands, especially estuarine salt marshes. It has been reclassified as Sporobolus alterniflorus after a taxonomic revision in 2014,[2] but it is still common to see Spartina alterniflora and in 2019 an interdisciplinary team of experts coauthored a report published in the journal Ecology supporting Spartina as a genus.[3] It grows 1–1.5 m (3 ft 3 in – 4 ft 11 in) tall and has smooth, hollow stems that bear leaves up to 20–60 cm (7.9 in – 1 ft 11.6 in) long and 1.5 cm (12 in) wide at their base, which are sharply tapered and bend down at their tips. Like its relative saltmeadow cordgrass S. patens, it produces flowers and seeds on only one side of the stalk. The flowers are a yellowish-green, turning brown by the winter. It has rhizoidal roots, which, when broken off, can result in vegetative asexual growth. The roots are an important food resource for snow geese. It can grow in low marsh (frequently inundated by the tide) as well as high marsh (less frequently inundated), but it is usually restricted to low marsh because it is outcompeted by salt meadow cordgrass in the high marsh.[4] It grows in a wide range of salinities, from about 5 psu to marine (32 psu), and has been described as the "single most important marsh plant species in the estuary" of Chesapeake Bay.[5] It is described as intolerant of shade.[6]

S. alterniflorus is noted for its capacity to act as an environmental engineer. It grows out into the water at the seaward edge of a salt marsh, and accumulates sediment and enables other habitat-engineering species, such as mussels, to settle. This accumulation of sediment and other substrate-building species gradually builds up the level of the land at the seaward edge, and other, higher-marsh species move onto the new land. As the marsh accretes, S. alterniflorus moves still further out to form a new edge. S. alterniflorus grows in tallest forms at the outermost edge of a given marsh, displaying shorter morphologies up onto the landward side of the Sporobolus belt.

S. alterniflorus is native to the Atlantic coast of the Americas from Newfoundland, Canada, south to northern Argentina, where it forms a dominant part of brackish coastal saltmarshes.

The caterpillars of Aaron's skipper (Poanes aaroni) have only been found on this species to date.

Problems as an invasive species

Sporobolus alterniflorus can become an invasive plant, either by itself or by hybridizing with native species and interfering with the propagation of the pure native strain. The grass can hinder water circulation and drainage or block boating channels. Meadows of S. alterniflorus can crowd out native species, reducing biodiversity and altering the environment; as a result of S. alterniflorus's growth, invertebrates that live in mud flats disappear as their habitat is overgrown, and in turn, food sources shrink for birds who feed on those invertebrates.

One example of an invasive Sporobolus alterniflorus hybrid is that of Sporobolus anglicus. S. anglicus is a fertile polyploid derived from the hybrid S.alterniflorus × townsendii (S. alterniflorus × S. maritimus), first found when American S. alterniflorus was introduced to southern England in about 1870 and came into contact with the local native S. maritimus. S. anglica has a variety of traits that allow it to outcompete native plants, including a high saline tolerance and the ability to perform photosynthesis at lower temperatures more productively than other similar plants. It can grow on a wider range of sediments than other species of the genus Sporobolus, and can survive inundation in salt water for longer periods of time. S. anglicus has since spread throughout northwest Europe, and (following introduction for erosion control) eastern North America.

The world's largest invasion of Sporobolus alterniflorus is in China, where plants from multiple North American locations were intentionally planted starting in 1979 with the intention of providing shore protection and sediment capture. The invasion has spread to over 34,000 hectares in ten provinces and Hong Kong.[7]

In Willapa Bay of Washington state, Sporobolus alterniflorus was probably an accidental introduction during oyster transplants during the nineteenth century and may have dispersed from there to other parts of the state. At its peak of infestation in 2003, it covered approximately 3,000 solid hectares (more than 8,500 acres), spread across an area of 8,000 hectares (20,000 acres). As of 2016, the infestation had been reduced to less than 3 solid hectares (7 acres).[8]

In California, four species of exotic Sporobolus (S. alterniflorus, S. densiflora, S. patens, and S. anglicus) have been introduced to the San Francisco Bay region. Sporobolus alterniflorus is well established in San Francisco Bay, and has had the greatest impact of all the cordgrasses in San Francisco Bay.[9] It was introduced in 1973 by the Army Corps of Engineers in an attempt to reclaim marshland, and was spread and replanted around the bay in further restoration projects. It demonstrated an ability to outcompete the native S. foliosa, and to potentially eliminate it from San Francisco Bay.[10]

Sporobolus alterniflorus has also been found to hybridize with S. foliosa, producing offspring Sporobolus alterniflorus × S. foliosa that may be an even greater threat than S. alterniflorus by itself.[11] The hybrid can physically modify the environment to the detriment of native species,[12] and the hybrid populations have spread into creeks, bays, and more remote coastal locations. The hybrids produce enormous amounts of pollen, which swamp the stigmas of the native S. foliosa flowers to produce even larger numbers of hybrid offspring, leaving the affected native Sporobolus species little chance to produce unhybridized offspring. The hybrids also produce much larger numbers of fertile seeds than the native Sporobolus species, and are producing a hybrid population that, left unchecked, can increase not only in population size but also in its rate of population growth.[9] The hybrids may also be able to fertilize themselves, which the native Sporobolus species cannot do, thus increasing the spread of the hybrid swarm even further. As of 2014, eradication efforts had reduced the infestation of S. alterniflorus and hybrids in the San Francisco Bay Area by 96%, from 323 net hectares at its peak to 12 net hectares.[13] Taller than either of the parent species, the hybrid provides good shelter to Ridgway's rail, an occasional roadblock to its eradication.[14]

Several means of control and eradication have been employed against Sporobolus alterniflorus where it has become a pest. Hand pulling is ineffective because even small rhizome fragments that inevitably break off and get left in the soil are capable of sending up new shoots. Imazapyr, an herbicide, is approved for aquatic use and is used effectively in Washington and California to kill it. In Willapa Bay, leafhopper bugs (Prokelisia marginata) were employed to kill the plants, which threaten the oyster industry there, but this method did not contain the invasion. Surveys by air, land, and sea are conducted in infested and threatened areas near San Francisco to determine the spread of Sporobolus species.

References

  1. ^ USDA, NRCS (n.d.). "Spartina alterniflora". The PLANTS Database (plants.usda.gov). Greensboro, North Carolina: National Plant Data Team. Retrieved 24 November 2015.
  2. ^ Peterson, Paul M.; Romaschenko, Konstantin; Arrieta, Yolanda Herrera; Saarela, Jeffery M. (2014). "A molecular phylogeny and new subgeneric classification of Sporobolus (Poaceae: Chloridoideae: Sporobolinae)". Taxon. 63 (6): 1212–1243. doi:10.12705/636.19.
  3. ^ Bortolus, Alejandro; Adam, Paul; Adams, Janine B.; Ainouche, Malika L.; Ayres, Debra; Bertness, Mark D.; Bouma, Tjeerd J.; Bruno, John F.; Caçador, Isabel; Carlton, James T.; Castillo, Jesus M.; Costa, Cesar S. B.; Davy, Anthony J.; Deegan, Linda; Duarte, Bernardo; Figueroa, Enrique; Gerwein, Joel; Gray, Alan J.; Grosholz, Edwin D.; Hacker, Sally D.; Hughes, A. Randall; Mateos‐Naranjo, Enrique; Mendelssohn, Irving A.; Morris, James T.; Muñoz‐Rodríguez, Adolfo F.; Nieva, Francisco J. J.; Levin, Lisa A.; Li, Bo; Liu, Wenwen; Pennings, Steven C.; Pickart, Andrea; Redondo‐Gómez, Susana; Richardson, David M.; Salmon, Armel; Schwindt, Evangelina; Silliman, Brian R.; Sotka, Erik E.; Stace, Clive; Sytsma, Mark; Temmerman, Stijn; Turner, R. Eugene; Valiela, Ivan; Weinstein, Michael P.; Weis, Judith S. (2019). "Supporting Spartina: Interdisciplinary perspective shows Spartina as a distinct solid genus". Ecology. 100 (11): e02863. doi:10.1002/ecy.2863. PMID 31398280.
  4. ^ http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/graminoid/spaalt/all.html USDA Forest Service Fire Effects Information System (FEIS) for Spartina alterniflora
  5. ^ Lippson, AJ & RL Lippson. 2006. Life in the Chesapeake Bay, 3rd ed., p.295. Johns Hopkins Press.
  6. ^ http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=spal USDA NRCS PLANTS profile for Spartina alterniflora
  7. ^ Strong, Donald R.; Ayres, Debra R. (2013). "Ecological and Evolutionary Misadventures of Spartina". Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics. 44 (1): 389–410. doi:10.1146/annurev-ecolsys-110512-135803.
  8. ^ https://agr.wa.gov/plantsinsects/weeds/spartina/default.aspx, Washington State Department of Agriculture Spartina Eradication Annual Reports. Accessed 7/12/18.
  9. ^ a b Ayres, Debra R.; Smith, Debra L.; Zaremba, Katy; Klohr, Shannon; Strong, Donald R. (2004). "Spread of Exotic Cordgrasses and Hybrids (Spartina sp.) in the Tidal Marshes of San Francisco Bay, California, USA" (PDF). Biological Invasions. 6 (2): 221–231. doi:10.1023/B:BINV.0000022140.07404.b7. S2CID 24732543.
  10. ^ Callaway, John C.; Josselyn, Michael N. (1992). "The Introduction and Spread of Smooth Cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora) in South San Francisco Bay". Estuaries. 15 (2): 218–226. doi:10.2307/1352695. JSTOR 1352695. S2CID 86778195.
  11. ^ Anttila, C. K.; King, R. A.; Ferris, C.; Ayres, D. R.; Strong, D. R. (2000). "Reciprocal hybrid formation of Spartina in San Francisco Bay". Molecular Ecology. 9 (6): 765–770. doi:10.1046/j.1365-294x.2000.00935.x. PMID 10849292. S2CID 32865913.
  12. ^ Ayres, Debra R.; Garcia-Rossi, Dino; Davis, Heather G.; Strong, Donald R. (1999). "Extent and degree of hybridization between exotic (Spartina alterniflora) and native (S. foliosa) cordgrass (Poaceae) in California, USA determined by random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPDs)". Molecular Ecology. 8 (7): 1179–1186. doi:10.1046/j.1365-294x.1999.00679.x. PMID 10447858. S2CID 43049200.
  13. ^ Kerr, Drew W.; Hogle, Ingrid B.; Ort, Brian S.; Thornton, Whitney J. (2016). "A review of 15 years of Spartina management in the San Francisco Estuary". Biological Invasions. 18 (8): 2247–2266. doi:10.1007/s10530-016-1178-2. S2CID 14283700.
  14. ^ Verge (August 7, 2018). "This monster plant is trying to take over. What if we let it?". YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21. Retrieved 24 December 2020.

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Sporobolus alterniflorus: Brief Summary

provided by wikipedia EN

Sporobolus alterniflorus, or synonymously known as Spartina alterniflora, the smooth cordgrass, saltmarsh cordgrass, or salt-water cordgrass, is a perennial deciduous grass which is found in intertidal wetlands, especially estuarine salt marshes. It has been reclassified as Sporobolus alterniflorus after a taxonomic revision in 2014, but it is still common to see Spartina alterniflora and in 2019 an interdisciplinary team of experts coauthored a report published in the journal Ecology supporting Spartina as a genus. It grows 1–1.5 m (3 ft 3 in – 4 ft 11 in) tall and has smooth, hollow stems that bear leaves up to 20–60 cm (7.9 in – 1 ft 11.6 in) long and 1.5 cm (1⁄2 in) wide at their base, which are sharply tapered and bend down at their tips. Like its relative saltmeadow cordgrass S. patens, it produces flowers and seeds on only one side of the stalk. The flowers are a yellowish-green, turning brown by the winter. It has rhizoidal roots, which, when broken off, can result in vegetative asexual growth. The roots are an important food resource for snow geese. It can grow in low marsh (frequently inundated by the tide) as well as high marsh (less frequently inundated), but it is usually restricted to low marsh because it is outcompeted by salt meadow cordgrass in the high marsh. It grows in a wide range of salinities, from about 5 psu to marine (32 psu), and has been described as the "single most important marsh plant species in the estuary" of Chesapeake Bay. It is described as intolerant of shade.

S. alterniflorus is noted for its capacity to act as an environmental engineer. It grows out into the water at the seaward edge of a salt marsh, and accumulates sediment and enables other habitat-engineering species, such as mussels, to settle. This accumulation of sediment and other substrate-building species gradually builds up the level of the land at the seaward edge, and other, higher-marsh species move onto the new land. As the marsh accretes, S. alterniflorus moves still further out to form a new edge. S. alterniflorus grows in tallest forms at the outermost edge of a given marsh, displaying shorter morphologies up onto the landward side of the Sporobolus belt.

S. alterniflorus is native to the Atlantic coast of the Americas from Newfoundland, Canada, south to northern Argentina, where it forms a dominant part of brackish coastal saltmarshes.

The caterpillars of Aaron's skipper (Poanes aaroni) have only been found on this species to date.

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