Index / Search / Spartina patens

§1 Plant

Spartina patens (Aiton) Muhl.

vernacular saltmeadow cordgrass — species · Poaceae


USDA
SPPA
GBIF
9478836 syn.
Rank
species
saltmeadow cordgrass (Spartina patens)
Platephotograph · Eric M PowellCC BY-NC source · iNaturalist ↗

§2Habit & range

Habit and range

Growth habit
Graminoid
Duration
Perennial
Group
Monocot
Family
Poaceae Barnhart
Genus
Spartina
§2a

Native status, by region

  • CAN Canada Native
  • L48 Lower 48 States Native
  • PR Puerto Rico Native
  • VI U.S. Virgin Islands Native
§2b

County-level range

· 161 counties across 21 states/territories
Legend Native · 161 Introduced · 0 Both · 0 Hover a county for detail.

§3Cultivation specs · USDA

Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.

§3a

Tolerances

Drought
Low
Shade
High
Moisture use
High
Fire
High
Salinity
High
Anaerobic
High
CaCO₃
High
Hedging
None
§3b

Climate & soil

Cold tolerance
-3 °F minimum
Frost-free days
130 min.
Precipitation
36–65 in/yr
pH range
5.5–7.5
Root depth
10 in min.
Fertility need
Medium
Soil texture
coarse, medium, fine
§3c

Form & growth

Growth form
Rhizomatous
Growth rate
Moderate
Lifespan
Long
Mature height
2 ft
Foliage texture
Medium
Foliage colour
Green
Porosity (summer)
Moderate
Porosity (winter)
Porous
Flower colour
Yellow
Fruit colour
Brown
Fire resistant
Yes
N fixation
None
Toxicity
None
§3d

Reproduction

Bloom period
Late Spring
Seed abundance
Low
Seed begins
Summer
Seed ends
Fall
Spread rate
None
Stratify
No
Seeds / lb
110,000
Propagation
bare root, container, 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 161 counties across 21 states/territories.

Alabama view state ↗ 4 N
Delaware view state ↗ 2 N
Florida view state ↗ 27 N
Georgia view state ↗ 6 N
Louisiana view state ↗ 15 N
Maine view state ↗ 8 N
Maryland view state ↗ 1 N
Massachusetts view state ↗ 9 N
Michigan view state ↗ 2 N
Mississippi view state ↗ 3 N
New Hampshire view state ↗ 2 N
New Jersey view state ↗ 9 N
New York view state ↗ 10 N
North Carolina view state ↗ 12 N
Oregon view state ↗ 1 N
Pennsylvania view state ↗ 1 N
Rhode Island view state ↗ 5 N
South Carolina view state ↗ 6 N
Texas view state ↗ 13 N
Virginia view state ↗ 24 N
Washington view state ↗ 1 N

§5Sources & provenance

USDA PLANTS

Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.

plants.usda.gov/SPPA ↗

GBIF Backbone

Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.

gbif.org/species/9478836 ↗

Record version

Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:

usda-plants-mt-2026-05-26

fetched 2026-05-26T14:42:51Z