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California Cord Grass

Sporobolus foliosus

California Cord Grass
Photo: Pacific Southwest Region U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Public domain

California cordgrass is a tall, salt-tolerant perennial grass from coastal marshes and mudflats of California and Baja California, especially San Francisco Bay. It is grown mainly for restoration and tidal marsh planting rather than as a garden ornamental.

Family
Poaceae (Grass family)
Grows as
Grass, Perennial
Light
Full sun
Water
Keep constantly moist or waterlogged; it thrives in tidal, brackish conditions.
Soil
Muddy, saline or brackish marsh soil; heavy clay or silt.
Temperature
Tolerates cool to mild coastal temperatures; hardy in mild climates, cold protection generally unnecessary.
How easy
Moderate
Native range
California to Mexico (Baja California)
Climate
subtropical

About

Sporobolus foliosus is a species of grass known by the common name California cordgrass. It was reclassified from Spartina foliosa after a taxonomic revision in 2014. It is native to the salt marshes and mudflats of coastal California and Baja California, especially San Francisco Bay. It is a perennial grass growing from short rhizomes. It produces single stems or clumps of thick, fleshy stems that grow up to 1.5 meters tall. They are green or purple-tinged. The long, narrow leaves are flat or rolled inward. The inflorescence is a narrow, dense, spike-like stick of branches appressed together, the unit reaching up to 25 centimeters long. The lower spikelets are sometimes enclosed in the basal sheaths of upper leaves.

Other Sporobolus plants

Cumberland sandreed · Giant sandreed · Sporobolus schoenoides · Modest prickle grass · Pricklegrass · Swamp Canegrass · Sporobolus cynosuroides · Sporobolus pumilus · Sporobolus michauxianus · Sporobolus spartinae · Sporobolus × townsendii · Cordgrass

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Sporobolus foliosus by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.

The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.

Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.

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