Fox Grass or Salt Meadow Grass
Fox-Grass. Salt-meadow Grass. Spartina patens (Ait.) Muhl.Perennial from creeping rootstocks.
Stem 1-3 ft. tall, slender, erect, sometimes reddish. Sheaths and lower surface of leaves very smooth. Ligule a ring of very short hairs. Leaves 4'-14' long, 1"-2" wide, dark green, involute, rather rigid.
Spikes 2-7, alternate, narrow, 1-sided, 1'-2' long, erect or spreading, on short pedicels. Spikelets 1-flowered, narrow, 4"-5" long, in 2 rows, green or pinkish purple. Scales 3; outer scales acute, unequal, rough on keels; flowering scale slightly 2-toothed; palet slightly longer than flowering scale. Stamens 3, anthers purple or reddish brown.
Salt meadows and sandy shores along the coast. June to September.
Newfoundland to Virginia.