Publication: Voy. Monde 2(2): 14. 1829.

Origin: Introduced from Chile

Herbarium search: CPNWH

Notes: Recently reported from Grays Harbor County, WA.

FNA25: "Spartina densiflora is native to South America, where it grows in coastal marshes and at inland sites. It was introduced to Humboldt Bay, Humboldt County, California, possibly during the nineteenth century. It is now established there and in several locations around San Francisco Bay and in Washington, Oregon, and Texas, as well as the Mediterranean coast of Europe. In California, it has often been mistaken for S. foliosa, from which it differs in its indurate culms, narrow, inrolled leaves, and cespitose growth habit and tendency to grow among Salicornia in the upper intertidal zone or in open mud.

The chromosome count was obtained by Gerish (1979), who reported it for Spartina foliosa, but Spicher and Josselyn (1985) demonstrated that the plants he worked with were almost certainly S. densiflora, a species that hitherto had been misidentified as the native S. foliosa."

Last updated 1/6/2024 by David Giblin.