Grasses of the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden

Prairie Cordgrass is a robust warm-season grass that grows from strong scaly rhizomes that can spread the plant 5 to 10 feet per year which is why it is sometimes found in pure dense stands in the pothole area of the old tall-grass prairie. The stems are erect, tall - reaching to 8 feet - and stout - up to 11 mm thick (about 7/16 inches).

Leaf blades are 3/16 to 5/8 inch wide (5-15 mm) and 8 to 30 inches long, mostly smooth of the lower surface but rough on top with sharp finely serrated edges. The blades have prominent linear veining and taper to a fine tip.

Sheaths and ligules: The leaf sheath has a long open throat with the sheath smooth but the throat is often hairy. Ligules are 1 to 3 mm long.

Inflorescence: The flowering panicles are 12 to 20 inches long and are composed of 5 to 50 (usually 7 to 17) densely flowered raceme-like branches. The branches are comb-like with 10 to 80 spikelets growing in two rows on the side of the spike away (outward) from the stem.

The spikelets have one bisexual floret each, with the glumes having a short barbed awn which causes them to stick to clothing. (Awns are bristle-like appendages at the tip of the seed that can make a twisting response to temperature and humidly changes and thus help the seed to work into the soil). The glumes are keeled, unequal in size - the lower glume 5 to 10 mm long and shorter than the floret, the upper much longer - 10 - 25 mm long; both can have fine stiff hair on the keels. The lemmas are bilobed. Florets have 3 anthers.

A variegated cultivar is available - 'Aureo-marginata' - with yellow margins and stripes.

Habitat: The seed is said to be poorly viable, thus the spread of the plant is via the vigorous rhizomes. It tolerates moisture very well making it the native grass of choice for wet areas. It is an excellent choice for pond edges or any low, damp area. Cordgrass makes good shelter for birds and animals, but is not useful for animal forage except when young and tender before the blades develop the serrated edges, so farmers will cut the grass early and several times during the growing season.

Names: The scientific names: Spartina is from the Greek spartine, for a cord made from Spartium junceum, and thus a reference to the tough fibers of the leaves which could make cords. The species, pectinata is Latin for "comb-like" referring to the flower panicles. The author names of the plant classification are as follows: First to publish was ‘Bosc’ which refers to Louis Augustin Guillaume Bosc (1759-1828), French botanist and entomologist, at one time French consul in the U.S., author of several botanical works and in 1825 became chair of plant culture at the Natural Museum of Natural History in Paris. His work was incomplete and amended by ‘Link’ who was Johann Heinrich Friedrich Link (1767-1851) German naturalist and botanist who succeeded Willdenow as director and curator of the Botanic Garden of Berlin, published widely and named many species.

Comparisons: One other species of Spartina grows in Minnesota - S. gracilis, Alkali Cordgrass. It is a much shorter grass, growing only to 3.5 feet and thin stems - 2 to 3.5 mm. The panicle has only 3 to 12 branches with 10 to 30 spikelets per branch. It is found in only a few counties of the State bordering the Dakotas. See comparison drawing below.