4 CIRCULAR 520, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



dry "sea hay" is recognized as good nest-building material both by 

 birds and mammals. 



MANATEEGRASS AND TURTLEGRASS 



Manateegrass (Cymodocea manatorum) and turtlegrass (Thalassia 

 testudinum) are less conspicuous plants that grow near the bottom 

 of the bays and creeks of the Florida coast. Their value as food for 

 wildlife is not scientifically known, but the common names indicate 

 that they have a popular reputation in that respect. 



WIGEONGRASS 



Wigeongrass (Ruppia maritima) has long, threadlike leaves, aris- 

 ing from a whitish, rather zigzag rootstock. The small, black, tri- 

 angular seeds are borne singly on the tips of short stalks radiating 

 from the end of a more or less lengthy and spiral stem. Wigeon- 

 grass grows in varying depths of water, sometimes in a few inches 

 near the shore, sometimes at a depth of 10 feet or more. Though 

 typically an inhabitant of brackish water, it thrives also in water 

 that is nearly fresh and, at the other extreme, in lagoons concentrated 

 by evaporation to a salinity greater than that of the sea. It is also 

 adapted to strong] y alkaline waters of the West, in which few other 

 plants will grow. Wigeongrass is a wild-fowl food of the first rank, 

 all parts of which are eaten. 



CORDGRASS 



Cordgrass, or thatch grass (Spartina cynosuroides) , occupies 

 deeper water than any of the other salt-marsh plants, except the 

 strictly submerged eelgrass and wigeongrass, and makes up nine- 

 tenths or more of all the vegetation of its zone. This grass extends 

 m depth from the level of ordinary high tide nearly to that of mean 

 low tide. Consequently a considerable part of its total height is sub- 

 merged at high tide. Cordgrass is a true grass, not a "called" one 

 like those just referred to. It has a rather stiff, leafy stalk, as much 

 as 10 feet tall, a flowering and fruiting head composed of feather- 

 like parts, and a wiry rootstock. Cordgrass is sometimes used for 

 bedding or mulch. It has little food value for wildlife but makes 

 a good cover for rails and smaller birds, some of which nest in it, 

 especially where bunches of dry eelgrass or other drift have lodged. 

 Plate 1, B, illustrates a fresh- water species of cordgrass. 



BLACK GRASS 



Areas inside the cordgrass zone that are not covered by ordinary 

 high tides, but are subject to flooding by spring and other exception- 

 ally full tides, have a variety of vegetation in which at different points 

 black grass, bulrushes, cattails (pi. 1, C), or marsh hay may predom- 

 inate. Black grass (Juncus gerardi), so called from its very dark- 

 green color, which is almost black in fall, slender and needle-pointed 

 at the top, with a tuft of flowers or seeds at the side, makes large and 

 dense stands but nevertheless permits the growth of numerous other 

 salt-marsh plants within its domain. It is of no known value as a 

 wildlife food plant. 



BULRUSHES 



Bulrushes of the salt marsh (pi. 1, C) have triangular stems and 

 tufts of flowers or seeds near the top. In the so-called three-square 



