A marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species. Marshes can often be found at the edges of lakes and streams, where they form a transition between the aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. They are often dominated by grasses, rushes or reeds. If woody plants are present they tend to be low-growing shrubs, and the marsh is sometimes called a carr. This form of vegetation is what differentiates marshes from other types of wetland such as swamps, which are dominated by trees, and mires, which are wetlands that have accumulated deposits of acidic peat.
A salt marsh, saltmarsh or salting, also known as a coastal salt marsh or a tidal marsh, is a coastal ecosystem in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and open saltwater or brackish water that is regularly flooded by the tides. It is dominated by dense stands of salt-tolerant plants such as herbs, grasses, or low shrubs. These plants are terrestrial in origin and are essential to the stability of the salt marsh in trapping and binding sediments. Salt marshes play a large role in the aquatic food web and the delivery of nutrients to coastal waters. They also support terrestrial animals and provide coastal protection.
Sod, also known as turf, is the upper layer of soil with the grass growing on it that is often harvested into rolls.
Helianthus paradoxus, the paradox sunflower, puzzle sunflower or Pecos sunflower, is a threatened species of sunflower found only in west Texas, Utah, and New Mexico salt marshes by the edges of inland salt lakes and salt flats.
Leucophyllum is a genus of evergreen shrubs in the figwort family, Scrophulariaceae, native to the southwestern United States and Mexico. It is sometimes placed in the family Myoporaceae. The dozen-odd species are often called "sages", although they have no relationship to the genus Salvia.
Hammock is a term used in the southeastern United States for stands of trees, usually hardwood, that form an ecological island in a contrasting ecosystem. Hammocks grow on elevated areas, often just a few inches high, surrounded by wetlands that are too wet to support them. The term hammock is also applied to stands of hardwood trees growing on slopes between wetlands and drier uplands supporting a mixed or coniferous forest. Types of hammocks found in the United States include tropical hardwood hammocks, temperate hardwood hammocks, and maritime or coastal hammocks. Hammocks are also often classified as hydric, mesic or xeric. The types are not exclusive, but often grade into each other.
Distichlis spicata is a species of grass known by several common names, including seashore saltgrass, inland saltgrass, and desert saltgrass. This grass is native to the Americas, where it is widespread. It can be found on other continents as well, where it is naturalized. It is extremely salt tolerant.
California's coastal salt marsh is a wetland plant community that occurs sporadically along the Pacific Coast from Humboldt Bay to San Diego. This salt marsh type is found in bays, harbors, inlets, and other protected areas subject to tidal flooding.
Sabal palmetto, also known as cabbage palm, cabbage palmetto, sabal palm, blue palmetto, Carolina palmetto, common palmetto, Garfield's tree, and swamp cabbage, is one of 15 species of palmetto palm. It is native to the Southern United States, the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico, and the West Indies.
Baccharis halimifolia is a North American species of shrubs in the family Asteraceae. It is native to Nova Scotia, the eastern and southern United States, eastern Mexico, the Bahamas, and Cuba.
Iva hayesiana is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common names San Diego marsh-elder and San Diego povertyweed.
Brackish marshes develop from salt marshes where a significant freshwater influx dilutes the seawater to brackish levels of salinity. This commonly happens upstream from salt marshes by estuaries of coastal rivers or near the mouths of coastal rivers with heavy freshwater discharges in the conditions of low tidal ranges.
Schoenoplectus americanus is a species of flowering plant in the sedge family known by the common names chairmaker's bulrush and Olney's three-square bulrush. It is native to the Americas, where it is known from Alaska to Nova Scotia and all the way into southern South America; it is most common along the East and Gulf Coasts of the United States and in parts of the western states. It grows in many types of coastal and inland wetland habitat, as well as sagebrush, desert scrub, chaparral, and plains. This rhizomatous perennial herb easily exceeds two meters in height. The stiff stems are sharply three-angled and usually very concave between the edges. Each plant has three or fewer leaves which are short and narrow. The inflorescence is a small head of several spikelets which may be brown to bright orange, red, purplish, or pale and translucent. They have hairy edges. The fruit is a brown achene. The plant reproduces sexually by seed and colonies spread via vegetative reproduction, sprouting from the rhizomes.
Sporobolus pumilus, the saltmeadow cordgrass, also known as salt hay, is a species of cordgrass native to the Atlantic coast of the Americas, from Newfoundland south along the eastern United States to the Caribbean and north-eastern Mexico. It was reclassified after a taxonomic revision in 2014, but the older name, Spartina patens, may still be found in use. It can be found in marshlands in other areas of the world as an introduced species and often a harmful noxious weed or invasive species.
Dicerandra frutescens is a rare species of flowering plant in the mint family known by the common names scrub mint and scrub balm. It is endemic to Highlands County, Florida, where it is known only from the Lake Wales Ridge. Its habitat is quickly being lost as it is converted to residential and agricultural use. It was federally listed as an endangered species of the United States in 1985.
Panicum repens is a species of grass known by many common names, including torpedograss, creeping panic, panic rampant, couch panicum, wainaku grass, quack grass, dog-tooth grass, and bullet grass. Its exact native range is obscure. Sources suggest that the grass is native to "Africa and/or Asia", "Europe or Australia", "Eurasia", "Australia", "Europe, Asia, and Africa", or other specific regions, including the Mediterranean, Israel, and Argentina. It is present in many places as an introduced species and often a noxious weed. It has been called "one of the world's worst weeds."
Borrichia frutescens is a North American species of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae known by the common names sea oxeye, sea oxeye daisy, bushy seaside tansy, and sea-marigold. In Veracruz it is called verdolaga de mar. It is native to the United States and Mexico, where it occurs along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts. Its distribution extends from Maryland south to Florida and west to Texas in the US, and along the Mexican Gulf Coast to the Yucatán Peninsula. It is an introduced species in some areas, such as Bermuda and Spain.
Iva imbricata is a North American species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common names dune marsh-elder and seacoast marsh elder. It is native to Cuba, the Bahamas, and coastal areas of the United States from Texas to Virginia. It is a low shrub, found on sand dunes and the upper beach. It is a highly salt tolerant plant, and is often the perennial plant closest to the ocean.
Iva angustifolia is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common name narrowleaf marsh elder. It grows in the south-central and southeastern United States.
Hypericum boreale, also known as northern St. John's-wort, is a short-lived perennial species of flowering plant in the family Hypericaceae, section Trigynobrathys.
