The status of Spartina maritima in Suffolk

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T H E S T A T U S O F SPARTINA

MARITIMA

IN S U F F O L K

MARGARETA. COOPER Spartina maritima (Curtis) Fernald (native or small cord grass) is a rare saltmarsh grass, which is now locally common only in Essex and Suffolk. 1t is one of the plants for which contemporary distribution data are rare and it has been included in the Scarce Plant Project organised by the B.S.B.I. The resultsof this project will form a basis for deciding future conservation needs. This paper arises in part f r o m my work in carrying out a survey for S. maritima in Suffolk. S. maritima is the native species of Spartina\ it hybridized with the northAmerican import Spartina alterniflora Loisel to form the species now known as Spartina x townsendii H . & J . G r o v e s i n a b o u t 1870. Spontaneousdoubling of the chromosomes took place within a few years and the resultant fertile amphidiploid is known as Spartina anglica C. E. H u b b a r d . This is now the most common Spartina and is seen in every estuary in the county. S. maritima rarely sets seed but spreads by rhizomes. It is usually found in high, mixed marshes growing in the Standing water of salt pans as a monoculture, or as part of a mixed assemblage in wetter areas of the marsh. It is often found on creek banks where, relatively free from grazing pressure, it tends to grow taller than at other places. In the River Orwell, S. maritima is also found as a pioneer plant on low-lying mud flats in conjunction with S. anglica, although it is often found nearer the river than that plant as it will tolerate longer immersion periods. In the high marshes, S. maritima is nearly always found close to Limonium spp. (Sea Lavender), though not where there is a high frequency of Aster tripolium (Sea Aster). S. maritima, although generally smaller than either S. anglica or S. x townsendii, is not easily distinguished in the field. This can happen where the plants are grazed and hence reduced in height, or where S. maritima is growing in competition with plants like Halimione portulacoides when it tends to elongate and the distinctive close angle of the leaf to the stem is not obvious. In the winter it appears rather like a 'hedgehog', as nearly all the lower leaves are lost late in the year and the growth habit is very upright. When it begins to grow in the early summer the new leaves are held fairly close to the stem, in contrast to 5. anglica which has more spreading leaves. History in Britain T h e first recorded Spartina in this country was found at Brigg in South Humberside, where seeds and rhizomes of a plant subsequently identified as a Spartina were found under a boat that was being excavated. These were dated at c.650 BC and it is assumed that they were remains of S. maritima, or a close relation (McGrail, 1981). No other fossil records have yet been found. Subsequently the plant was recorded from Kent in 1629 and was first collected by Merret from Creeksea Ferry in Essex in 1666. In 1703 it was found further u p the Crouch at Fambridge ( H u b b a r d , 1965). T h e grass slowly spread, and was reported from Southampton Water in 1805

Trans. Suffolk

Nat. Soc. 29 (1993)


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The status of Spartina maritima in Suffolk by Suffolk Naturalists' Society - Issuu