Monanthochloe littoralis Engelm.   Poaceae (Grass Family)   Native   Shoregrass   Salt Cedar

                                    December Photo

Plant Characteristics:  Spreading wiry-stemmed perennial with short erect branches; lf. blades 5-10 mm. long, falcate in +/- remote clusters; spikelets 1-few, scarcely evident, 3-5 fld., only the lower fertile, borne in the axils of fascicled lvs., the uppermost florets rudimentary, the rachilla disarticulating slowly in female spikelets; paleae narrow, 2-nerved.

Habitat:  Coastal Salt Marsh, Santa Barbara to L. Calif.; to Fla., Mex., Cuba.  Santa Catalina and Santa Rosa Ids.  Found at +/- 0 m.  May-June.

Name:  Greek, monos, single,  anthos, flower, and chloe, grass.  alluding the unisexual flowers.  (Hitchcock 175).    Latin, litoralis, belonging to the sea.  (Jaeger 143). 

General:  Common in the study area.  The photographed specimen was on North Star Beach.  (my comments).    Shoregrass is a subtropical species whose northern limit of distribution is near Point Conception.  The prostrate grass readily expands vegetatively and forms dense mats in the upper marsh habitats of many southern California marshes.  It is rarely seen flowering or fruiting. (Zedler 30).     Habitats between the higher salt marsh and coastal scrub or dune vegetation have undergone so much disturbance that their communities are difficult to characterize.  Perhaps the best understanding of their former composition can be obtained by extrapolation from the marshes at Bahia de San Quintin.  Neuenschwander et al. (l979) identified the transitional zone as the area inland of the highest debris line.  Marsh species had the lower abundance and several desert and coastal upland species were present.  Dominant species, both on the basis of frequency and cover, were Monanthochloe littoralis, Salicornia subterminalis, and Frankenia palmeri.  The latter species is known only from San Diego Bay in the U.S. where it is rare.  Lycium brevipes and Atriplex julacea were occasional, and Euphorbia misera, Distichlis spicata, Allenrolfea occidentalis, Dudleya brittonii, Haplopappus venetus, and three cacti were relatively rare in the transition zone.   Transitional areas at Tijuana Estuary are likewise distinguishable by the appearance of a large variety of species not common to lower elevations.  The main difference is that many of them are introduced weeds.  They grow among the Arthrocnemum subterminalis  and shoregrass wherever soils are low in salinity.  (Zedler 33).      Zedler further states that 70% or more of the shoregrass will be found between 5.8 and 6.8 ft. above MLLW. (Zedler 17).        Monanthochloe littoralis is one of five salt marsh plants that excrete salt.  The others are Spartina foliosa, Distichlis spicata, Limonium californicum, and Frankenia salina.  (Zedler 51).      One of the native halophytes found in Upper Newport Bay, see Spartina foliosa, for a complete list.  (my  comment).       The only species in the genus.  (Munz, Flora So. Calif. 982).  

Text Ref:  Munz, Flora So. Calif. 982; Roberts 47.

Photo Ref:  Dec 1 82 # 28; June-July 93 # 3.

Identity: by R. De Ruff.

First Found:  December 1982.

Computer Ref:  Plant Data 99.

No plant specimen.

Last edit 6/10/04.

                                           June Photo