Spartina patens – Salt meadow hay

Characteristics: herbaceous perennial fine-textured grass

Flowers: June - October

Fruit: fall

Growth: 1 to 3 ft tall, moderate rate of spread approximately 0.5 ft per year in unconsolidated sediment

Shade: requires full sun

Habitat: brackish and salt marshes

Hydrology: facultative wetland + (FACW+), near mean high water to upland, salinity up to 35 ppt

Range: southwest Newfoundland to southern St. Lawrence, Quebec, south to Florida and Texas inland to western New York and southeastern Michigan

Comments: moderate wildlife food value and nesting habitat, tolerates drought once established, shoreline erosion control