General: Saltgrass (Distichlis spicata) is a perennial, mat-forming grass that forms extensive "lawns" around salt marshes and areas with damp, salty soils. Saltgrass is strongly 2-ranked, often yellowish, and with alternating branches and leaves.

Saltgrass is a common component of vegetation associations in wet areas with salty soils (e.g., salt marshes and moist, alkaline areas) in the Lower Sonoran (Creosote-Bursage Flats) and Upper Sonoran (Mojave Desert Scrub) life zones. Distichlis is the common species found in such places.

Around Las Vegas, look for Saltgrass at Salt Creek and Death Valley National Park, at Calico Basin in Red Rock Canyon NCA, and at Corn Creek in the Desert National Wildlife Range.

Family: Grass (Poaceae).

Other Names:

Plant Form: Perennial, mat-forming grass.

Height: Usually ankle to shin-high; to 1-1/2 feet.

Stems: Long and running; ascending. Stems round and solid in cross-section.

Leaves: Long and thin: 1-4 inches long by about 2/10s of an inch wide.

Flowers: Blooms April to July. Inflorescence panicle-like, 1-3 inches long. Flowers compressed.

Seeds: Achene (like a tiny sunflower seed).

Habitat: Sandy and gravelly soils in salt marshes and areas with damp, salty soils.

Elevation: Below about 5,000 feet.

Distribution: Western U.S.

Comments: Saltgrass might be confused with the weedy species Bermudagrass; however, the flowerheads are quite different.