General Announcements and Messages (only members c

Hi All,

Have you been out paddling lately and noticed that the marsh grass that surrounds us is in flower now. I love this time of year as our season is starting to wind down. Do you know the name of this grass? Did you know around the harbor and up as far as the salt water extends it's all the same grass. It's the only grass that grows in the high salinity water on the coast. As the salinity drops inland, Black Needle Rush and others start coming in.

For people in the know it's until recently been formally known as Spartina Alterniflora. Spartina in the "genus", Alterniflora the "species". You'll hear naturalists simply call it Spartina.  Well botanists who live plants put it in a new grouping in 2014. They now call it Sporobolus Alterniflous. I've yet to hear anyone call it by its new name Sporobolus. I have read that there is kickback to the new name as the Spartina name has been around a long time. We'll see how it plays out.

Next time you paddle in salt water go up any small streamlet and check out the flowers.

Dan

Would have been easier to rename everything in Sporobolus Genus to Spartina!

Ken