Index / Search / Distichlis spicata
§1 Plant
Distichlis spicata (L.) Greene
vernacular saltgrass — species · Poaceae
§2Habit & range
Habit and range
- Growth habit
- Graminoid
- Duration
- Perennial
- Group
- Monocot
- Family
- Poaceae Barnhart
- Genus
- Distichlis
§2a
Native status, by region
- CAN Canada Native
- HI Hawaii Introduced
- L48 Lower 48 States Native
§2b
County-level range
· 24 counties across 2 states/territories§3Cultivation specs · USDA
Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.
§3a
Tolerances
- Drought
- Medium
- Shade
- High
- Moisture use
- Medium
- Fire
- High
- Salinity
- High
- Anaerobic
- High
- CaCO₃
- High
- Hedging
- None
§3b
Climate & soil
- Cold tolerance
- -35 °F minimum
- Frost-free days
- 80 min.
- Precipitation
- 5–70 in/yr
- pH range
- 6.4–10
- Root depth
- 2 in min.
- Fertility need
- Medium
- Soil texture
- medium, fine
§3c
Form & growth
- Growth form
- Rhizomatous
- Growth rate
- Slow
- Lifespan
- Long
- Mature height
- 1.1 ft
- Foliage texture
- Medium
- Foliage colour
- Green
- Porosity (summer)
- Porous
- Porosity (winter)
- Porous
- Flower colour
- Yellow
- Fruit colour
- Brown
- Fire resistant
- No
- N fixation
- None
- Toxicity
- None
§3d
Reproduction
- Bloom period
- Mid Summer
- Seed abundance
- Low
- Seed begins
- Summer
- Seed ends
- Fall
- Spread rate
- Slow
- Stratify
- No
- Seeds / lb
- 519,000
- Propagation
- sprigs
§3e
Use & availability
- Commercial availability
- Routinely Available
- Nursery stock
- No
- Browse palatability
- Low
- Graze palatability
- Low
- Palatable, human
- No
- Protein potential
- Low
- Lumber
- No
- Christmas tree
- No
§4Counties, by state
Recorded in 24 counties across 2 states/territories.
Montana view state ↗ 19 N ▾
Rhode Island view state ↗ 5 N ▾
§5Sources & provenance
USDA PLANTS
Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.
plants.usda.gov/DISP ↗GBIF Backbone
Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.
gbif.org/species/2704509 ↗Record version
Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:
usda-plants-mt-2026-05-25
fetched 2026-05-25T18:27:19Z