Sporobolus pumilus

Salt-meadow cord grass

Family: Poaceae · Type: perennial · Not Native

Conservation status: Cal-IPC Yes

Salt-meadow cord grass is a naturalized perennial found in coastal areas of the central California coast at elevations below 10 meters in coastal salt marshes. Flowering in November, this grass produces small, delicate spikelets 7 to 12 millimeters long with scabrous glume and lemma keels. Growing in slender clumps with stems 30 to 120 centimeters tall, it spreads through rhizomes 2 to 4 millimeters wide. Its narrow leaf blades are 10 to 50 centimeters long, typically inrolled when fresh, with approximately three ridges per millimeter on the upper surface. The plant's open inflorescence spans 5 to 22 centimeters wide, with spreading branches extending up to 60 degrees from the main stem.

Habitat: Coastal salt marshes

Bloom period: Nov

Elevation: < 10 m

Bioregions: CCo

California counties: Contra Costa, Solano

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.