''Sporobolus anglicus'' (common cordgrass) is a species of

cordgrass ''Spartina'' is a taxon of plants in the grass family, frequently found in coastal salt marshes. Its species are commonly known as cordgrass or cord-grass, and are native to the coasts of the Atlantic Ocean in western and southern Europe, north ...

that originated in southern

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in about 1870 and is a neonative species in Britain. It was reclassified as ''

Sporobolus ''Sporobolus'' is a nearly cosmopolitan genus of plants in the grass family. The name ''Sporobolus'' means "seed-thrower", and is derived from Ancient Greek word (), meaning "seed", and the root of () "to throw", referring to the dispersion of ...

anglicus'' after a taxonomic revision in 2014,Peterson, PM , et al (2014) A molecular phylogeny and new subgeneric classification of Sporobolus (Poaceae: Chloridoideae: Sporobolinae), Taxon 63: 1212-1243. but ''Spartina anglica'' is still in common usage. It is an

allotetraploid Polyploidy is a condition in which the cells of an organism have more than one pair of ( homologous) chromosomes. Most species whose cells have nuclei (eukaryotes) are diploid, meaning they have two sets of chromosomes, where each set contains ...

species derived from the

hybrid Hybrid may refer to: Science * Hybrid (biology), an offspring resulting from cross-breeding ** Hybrid grape, grape varieties produced by cross-breeding two ''Vitis'' species ** Hybridity, the property of a hybrid plant which is a union of two dif ...

''Sporobolus × townsendii'', which arose when the European native cordgrass ''

Sporobolus maritimus ''Sporobolus maritimus'', or synonymously as ''Spartina maritima'', the small cordgrass, is a species of cordgrass native to the coasts of western and southern Europe and western Africa, from the Netherlands west across southern England to southe ...

'' (Small Cordgrass) hybridised with the introduced American ''

Sporobolus alterniflorus ''Sporobolus alterniflorus'', or synonymously known as ''Spartina alterniflora'', the smooth cordgrass, saltmarsh cordgrass, or salt-water cordgrass, is a perennial deciduous grass which is found in intertidal wetlands, especially estuarine salt ...

'' (Smooth Cordgrass). It is a

herbaceous Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials. Definitions of "herb" and "herbaceous" The fourth edition of t ...

perennial plant A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

growing tall, yellowish green in spring and summer, and turning light brown in autumn and winter. The

leaves A leaf (plural, : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant plant stem, stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", wh ...

are long, and broad at the base, tapering to a point. It produces

flower A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...

s and

seed A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiospe ...

s on only one side of the stalk. The flowers are a yellowish-green, turning brown by the winter.

Invasive problems

''Sporobolus anglica'' was at first seen as a valuable new species for

coastal erosion Coastal erosion is the loss or displacement of land, or the long-term removal of sediment and rocks along the coastline due to the action of waves, currents, tides, wind-driven water, waterborne ice, or other impacts of storms. The landward ...

control, its dense root systems binding coastal mud and the stems increasing silt deposition, thereby assisting in

land reclamation Land reclamation, usually known as reclamation, and also known as land fill (not to be confused with a waste landfill), is the process of creating new land from oceans, seas, riverbeds or lake beds. The land reclaimed is known as reclamati ...

from the sea. As a result, it was widely planted at coastal sites throughout the British Isles, and has colonised large areas of tidal mudflats, becoming an

invasive species An invasive species otherwise known as an alien is an introduced organism that becomes overpopulated and harms its new environment. Although most introduced species are neutral or beneficial with respect to other species, invasive species ad ...

. New colonies may take some time to become established, but once they do, vegetative spread by

rhizome In botany and dendrology, a rhizome (; , ) is a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and shoots from its nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping rootstalks or just rootstalks. Rhizomes develop from axillary buds and grow hori ...

s is rapid, smothering natural ecosystems and preventing birds such as waders from feeding. In some areas, however, a natural dieback of unknown cause has reversed the spread, and artificial control is no longer necessary where this dieback has occurred. It has also been introduced to Asia, Australia, New Zealand and North America, where it has proved to be a serious invasive species causing extensive damage to natural

saltmarsh A salt marsh or saltmarsh, also known as a coastal salt marsh or a tidal marsh, is a coastal ecosystem in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and open saltwater or brackish water that is regularly flooded by the tides. It is dominated ...

ecosystems in all areas.

References

External links

UK Joint Nature Conservation Committee: ''Spartina anglica''San Francisco Estuary Invasive Spartina Project
{{Taxonbar anglica

Invasive problems

Further reading

See also

References

External links