Index / Search / Distichlis spicata
§1 Plant
Distichlis spicata (L.) Greene
vernacular saltgrass — species · Poaceae
§2Habit & range
Habit and range
- Growth habit
- Graminoid
- Duration
- Perennial
- Group
- Monocot
- Family
- Poaceae Barnhart
- Genus
- Distichlis
§2a
Native status, by region
- CAN Canada Native
- HI Hawaii Introduced
- L48 Lower 48 States Native
§2b
County-level range
· 155 counties across 18 states/territories§3Cultivation specs · USDA
Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.
§3a
Tolerances
- Drought
- Medium
- Shade
- High
- Moisture use
- Medium
- Fire
- High
- Salinity
- High
- Anaerobic
- High
- CaCO₃
- High
- Hedging
- None
§3b
Climate & soil
- Cold tolerance
- -35 °F minimum
- Frost-free days
- 80 min.
- Precipitation
- 5–70 in/yr
- pH range
- 6.4–10
- Root depth
- 2 in min.
- Fertility need
- Medium
- Soil texture
- medium, fine
§3c
Form & growth
- Growth form
- Rhizomatous
- Growth rate
- Slow
- Lifespan
- Long
- Mature height
- 1.1 ft
- Foliage texture
- Medium
- Foliage colour
- Green
- Porosity (summer)
- Porous
- Porosity (winter)
- Porous
- Flower colour
- Yellow
- Fruit colour
- Brown
- Fire resistant
- No
- N fixation
- None
- Toxicity
- None
§3d
Reproduction
- Bloom period
- Mid Summer
- Seed abundance
- Low
- Seed begins
- Summer
- Seed ends
- Fall
- Spread rate
- Slow
- Stratify
- No
- Seeds / lb
- 519,000
- Propagation
- sprigs
§3e
Use & availability
- Commercial availability
- Routinely Available
- Nursery stock
- No
- Browse palatability
- Low
- Graze palatability
- Low
- Palatable, human
- No
- Protein potential
- Low
- Lumber
- No
- Christmas tree
- No
§4Counties, by state
Recorded in 155 counties across 18 states/territories.
Alabama view state ↗ 4 N ▾
Arizona view state ↗ 10 N ▾
Delaware view state ↗ 1 N ▾
Florida view state ↗ 23 N ▾
- Brevard 12009
- Citrus 12017
- Collier 12021
- Dixie 12029
- Duval 12031
- Escambia 12033
- Flagler 12035
- Franklin 12037
- Hernando 12053
- Indian River 12061
- Lee 12071
- Levy 12075
- Miami-Dade 12086
- Monroe 12087
- Palm Beach 12099
- Pasco 12101
- Pinellas 12103
- Santa Rosa 12113
- Sarasota 12115
- St. Johns 12109
- Taylor 12123
- Volusia 12127
- Wakulla 12129
Georgia view state ↗ 6 N ▾
Louisiana view state ↗ 17 N ▾
Maryland view state ↗ 1 N ▾
Massachusetts view state ↗ 9 N ▾
Mississippi view state ↗ 3 N ▾
Montana view state ↗ 19 N ▾
New Hampshire view state ↗ 2 N ▾
New Jersey view state ↗ 8 N ▾
New York view state ↗ 9 N ▾
North Carolina view state ↗ 10 N ▾
Pennsylvania view state ↗ 2 N ▾
Rhode Island view state ↗ 5 N ▾
Virginia view state ↗ 21 N ▾
- Accomack 51001
- Chesapeake (city) 51550
- Essex 51057
- Gloucester 51073
- Hampton (city) 51650
- Isle of Wight 51093
- James City 51095
- King and Queen 51097
- King George 51099
- King William 51101
- Lancaster 51103
- Mathews 51115
- Middlesex 51119
- New Kent 51127
- Newport News (city) 51700
- Northampton 51131
- Northumberland 51133
- Richmond 51159
- Surry 51181
- Virginia Beach (city) 51810
- York 51199
§5Sources & provenance
USDA PLANTS
Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.
plants.usda.gov/DISP ↗GBIF Backbone
Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.
gbif.org/species/2704509 ↗Record version
Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:
usda-plants-mt-2026-05-26
fetched 2026-05-26T05:45:41Z