Distribution: Occurring west of the Cascades crest in southwestern Washington Washington to California; also in eastern North America, where native.

Habitat: Mudflats, tidal sloughs, and salt marshes.

Flowers: August-September

Origin: Introduced from the Atlantic coast of North America

Growth Duration: Perennial

Conservation Status: Not of concern

Pollination: Wind

Strongly rhizomatous perennial, the culms 6-12 dm. tall, glabrous and hollow.

Sheaths open, pubescent at the throat; ligules about 1.5 mm. long, composed chiefly of a fringe of fine, straight hairs; blades 7-15 mm. broad at the base, involute at the tip.

Inflorescence of many spikes, crowded and overlapping, 5-8 cm. long, arranged in a raceme; spikelets 1-flowered, articulate below the glumes, borne in two rows on one side of the rachis; first glume very narrow, acute, 6-9 mm. long, keeled, blunt, 1-nerved; second glume broader and longer, keeled and blunt, exceeding the floret; lemmas keeled, 1-nerved, slightly exceeded by the delicate, 2-nerved palea.