Smooth Cordgrass
Spartina alterniflora
Smooth cordgrass is the foundational grass of Atlantic and Gulf salt marshes, building and binding tidal mud between the tides. Essential for coastal marsh restoration. The seed is recorded as a food among coastal tribes, without detail on how it was prepared.
- Family
- Poaceae
- Type
- grass
- Lifespan
- perennial
- Height
- 3.5–3.5 ft
- Spacing
- 2–4 ft apart
- Light
- sun
- Soil moisture
- wet
- Soil pH
- acidic, neutral
- Bloom
- April, May
- Bloom colors
- yellow
- Wildlife value
- songbirds
- Landscape uses
- specimen, border, rain garden, erosion control, naturalizing
- Native states
- AL, CA, CT, DE, FL, GA, LA, MA, MD, ME, MS, NC, NH, NJ, NY, RI, SC, TX, VA, WA
Related native plants
More Spartina species
- Prairie Cordgrass (Spartina pectinata)
- Saltmeadow Cordgrass (Spartina patens)
- Gulf Cordgrass (Spartina spartinae)