Sporobolus anglicus
| Sporobolus anglicus | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Monocots |
| Clade: | Commelinids |
| Order: | Poales |
| Family: | Poaceae |
| Subfamily: | Chloridoideae |
| Genus: | Sporobolus |
| Species: | S. anglicus |
| Binomial name | |
| Sporobolus anglicus (C.E.Hubb.) P.M.Peterson & Saarela | |
| Synonyms | |
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Sporobolus anglicus (common cordgrass) is a hybrid-derived species of cordgrass that originated in southern England in about 1870 and is a neonative species in Britain. It was reclassified as Sporobolus anglicus after a taxonomic revision in 2014, but but its previous name, Spartina anglica is still in common usage.: 1119 It is an allotetraploid species derived from the hybrid Sporobolus × townsendii, which arose when the European native cordgrass Sporobolus maritimus (small cordgrass) hybridized with the introduced American Sporobolus alterniflorus (smooth cordgrass).
Common cordgrass is a herbaceous perennial plant growing 0.4–1.3 metres (1–4 ft) tall. Its foliage consists of round stems that are yellowish green in spring and summer, and turns light brown in autumn and winter. The leaves are 20–60 centimetres (8–24 in) long, and 1.5 centimetres (1⁄2 in) broad at the base, tapering to a point. It produces flowers and seeds on only one side of the stem. The flowers are a yellowish-green, turning brown by the winter.