cordgrass

noun

cord·​grass ˈkȯrd-ˌgras How to pronounce cordgrass (audio)
: any of a genus (Spartina) of chiefly salt-marsh grasses of coastal regions of Europe, northern Africa, and the New World that have stiff culms and panicled spikelets

Examples of cordgrass in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
California has spent millions eradicating invasive species like nutria, Atlantic cordgrass and the European green crab. Alexa Robles-Gil, Smithsonian Magazine, 4 Nov. 2024 The consequences are clearer in the case of Spartina species, known as cordgrasses—though in this case, the species benefits but the environment itself suffers. Richard Pallardy, Ars Technica, 30 July 2024 In the distance, the scraggly skeletons of tall, once-majestic trees reach up out of the cordgrass, a reminder that not long ago this wasn’t marshland at all. Abrahm Lustgarten, ProPublica, 11 Apr. 2024 Spartina, a perennial cordgrass grown in salt marshes, provides habitat for wildlife. Southern Living Editors, Southern Living, 31 July 2023 With an oyster trail flag attached to the boat snapping in the breeze, the Faisons steer their pontoon through a maze of traffic and into the network of channels off the waterway, through cordgrass where the occasional alligator lurks in the summer months. Emily Cataneo, Smithsonian Magazine, 12 Aug. 2022 More than half of the main island is salt marsh, and the knee-high cordgrass and black needlerush seemingly stretched to the Earth’s curve. Andrea Sachs, Washington Post, 1 July 2022 Native plants like the Pacific cordgrass and pickleweed provide the muscle for sea level rise adaptation, said John Callaway, a wetlands restoration ecologist at the University of San Francisco. Julie Johnson, San Francisco Chronicle, 29 Oct. 2021 East Anglia, the region with the country’s lowest average rainfall, is home to flora like corn chamomile, cordgrass and rolling heather but is also burdened with dry, sandy soil. New York Times, 15 Oct. 2021

Word History

First Known Use

1857, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of cordgrass was in 1857

Dictionary Entries Near cordgrass

Cite this Entry

“Cordgrass.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cordgrass. Accessed 21 Dec. 2024.

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