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Gulf Cord Grass

Sporobolus spartinae (Trin.) P. M. Peterson & Saarela

Comprehensive Description

provided by North American Flora
Spartina spartinae (Trin.) Merrill; Hitchc. Contr. U. S. Nat Herb. 17: 329. 1913.
Vilfa Spartinae Trin. M^m. Acad. St.-P^tersb. VI. 6=: 82. 1840. (Type from Texas.)
Spartina junciformis Engelm. & Gray. Bost. Jour. Nat. Hist. 5: 238. 1845. (Type from Texas,
Lindheimer [207].) Spartina Gouini Foum. Mex. PI. Gram. 2: 135. 1886. (Type from Vera Cruz. Gouin 72.) Spartina multiflora Vasey; Beal. Grasses N. Am. 2: 400. as synonym of 5. junciformis Engelm. &
Gray. 1896. Spartina Piitieri Hack. Oesterr. Bot. Zeits. 52: 237. 1902. (Type from Costa Rica. Pillier 4209.) Spartina argenlinensish. Parodi, Revista Fac. Agron. La Plata2: 30. 1919. (Type from Argentina.) Spartina densiflora var . junciformis St. Yves. Candollea 5: 26, 77. 1932. (Based on S. junciformis
Engelm. & Gray.) Spartina densiflora var. junciformis subvar. argenlinensis St. Yves, Candollea 5: 26, 79. 1932.
(Based on 5. argenlinensis L. Parodi.)
Culms 30-175 cm. tall, erect in usually large dense clumps; sheaths longer than the internodes, roimded on the back; ligule densely ciliate, 1 mm. long; blades elongate, 3-5 mm. wide at the base, narrower than the mouth of the sheath, often tortuous, pungent, the lower surface glabrous, the upper surface and the margins scabrous; panicle 10-40 cm. long, usually dense, cylindric; spikes mmierous, 2-8 cm. long, sessile, appressed, the rachis scabrous on the margins; spikelets 6-7 mm. long, crowded; glumes acute to obtuse, sometimes minutely lobed and mucronate, scabrous on the keels, the first a little shorter than the lemma, or rarely only half as long, the second a Uttle longer than the lemma; lemma 5-6 mm. long, obtuse, scabrous on the keel; palea equal to the lemma.
Type uocu-ity: Texas.
Distribution: Marshes, swamps, and wet ground near the coast. Florida to Texas, eastern Mexico, and Costa Rica; also in 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, Stolons or runners present, Stems nodes swollen or brittle, Stems erect or ascending, Stems caespitose, tufted, or clustered, Stems terete, round in cross section, or polygonal, Stem internodes solid or spongy, Stem internodes hollow, Stems with inflorescence less than 1 m tall, Stems with inflorescence 1-2 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 2-10 mm wide, Leaf blade margins folded, involute, or conduplicate, Leaf blades mostly glabrous, Leaf blades scabrous, rou ghened, or wrinkled, Ligule present, Ligule a fringe of hairs, Inflorescence terminal, Inflorescence a contracted panicle, narrowly paniculate, branches appressed or ascending, Inflorescence solitary, with 1 spike, fascicle, glomerule, head, or cluster per stem or culm, Inflorescence a panicle with narrowly racemose or spicate 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 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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Dr. David Bogler
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Missouri Botanical Garden
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USDA NRCS NPDC
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USDA PLANTS text

Environment

provided by World Register of Marine Species
coastal flats, brackish marshlands, salt flats, lowlands, and along waterways

Reference

Scifres, C. J.; McAtee, J. W.; Drawe, D. L. (1980). Botanical, Edaphic, and Water Relationships of Gulf Cordgrass (Spartina spartinae [Trin.] Hitchc.) and Associated Communities. The Southwestern Naturalist. 25(3): 397-409.

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