Index / Search / Spartina cynosuroides

§1 Plant

Spartina cynosuroides (L.) Roth

vernacular big cordgrass — species · Poaceae


USDA
SPCY
GBIF
9531396 syn.
Rank
species
big cordgrass (Spartina cynosuroides)
Platephotograph · Sadie HickeyCC BY-NC source · iNaturalist ↗

§2Habit & range

Habit and range

Growth habit
Graminoid
Duration
Perennial
Group
Monocot
Family
Poaceae Barnhart
Genus
Spartina
§2a

Native status, by region

  • L48 Lower 48 States Native
§2b

County-level range

· 1 county across 1 state
Legend Native · 1 Introduced · 0 Both · 0 Hover a county for detail.

§3Cultivation specs · USDA

Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.

§3a

Tolerances

Drought
None
Shade
High
Moisture use
High
Fire
High
Salinity
High
Anaerobic
High
CaCO₃
Medium
Hedging
None
§3b

Climate & soil

Cold tolerance
-3 °F minimum
Frost-free days
210 min.
Precipitation
40–60 in/yr
pH range
5.8–7.5
Root depth
20 in min.
Fertility need
Medium
Soil texture
coarse, medium, fine
§3c

Form & growth

Growth form
Rhizomatous
Growth rate
Moderate
Lifespan
Long
Mature height
8 ft
Foliage texture
Coarse
Foliage colour
Green
Porosity (summer)
Dense
Porosity (winter)
Moderate
Flower colour
Yellow
Fruit colour
Brown
Fire resistant
No
N fixation
None
Toxicity
None
§3d

Reproduction

Bloom period
Spring
Seed abundance
Low
Seed begins
Summer
Seed ends
Fall
Spread rate
Slow
Stratify
No
Propagation
bare root, 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 1 county across 1 state.

Rhode Island view state ↗ 1 N

§5Sources & provenance

USDA PLANTS

Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.

plants.usda.gov/SPCY ↗

GBIF Backbone

Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.

gbif.org/species/9531396 ↗

Record version

Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:

usda-plants-mt-2026-05-25

fetched 2026-05-25T18:27:19Z