Common Cordgrass

Description

Spartina anglica (Common Cord-grass) is a species of cordgrass that originated in southern England in about 1870 and is endemic as a native to Britain. It is an allotetraploid species derived from the hybrid Spartina - townsendii, which arose when the European native cordgrass Spartina maritima (Small Cordgrass) hybridised with the introduced American Spartina alterniflora (Smooth Cordgrass).It is a herbaceous perennial plant growing 0.4-1.3 m tall, yellowish green in spring and summer, and turning light brown in autumn and winter. The leaves are 20-60 cm long, and 1.5 cm broad at the base, tapering to a point. It produces flowers and seeds on only one side of the stalk. The flowers are a yellowish-green, turning brown by the winter.