The origin of the tidal marshes and the development of their vegetative cover have received the attention of several American investigators. Shaler (1885) and Knight (1934) ascribed the origin of marginal marshes that are protected from the direct action of waves by bars or by their location along the borders of estuaries to the silting up of quiet bodies of water to a little above the low-tide level. Such deposition permits the invasion and ecesis of the salt marsh grasses. The first marsh grass to colonize an aggraded substratum along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts is usually Spartina glabra alternifora2, occuring in nearly pure stand. Conard (1935) named this association the Spartinetum glabrae, a more precise designation than the sedge association, or Spartinetum of Ganong (1903). This association has been recognized or described floristically from Nova Scotia, southward along the Atlantic coast, to North Carolina (Kearney 1900-1901, Ganong 1903, Davis 1910, Shreve et al. 1910, Harshberger 1909-1916, Johnson and York 1915, Nichols 1920, Wells 1928, Knight 1934, Conard 1935, Chapman 1940). It is known in the Gulf Coast region from the work of Penfound and O'Neil (1934) and Penfound and Hathaway (1938).
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J. F. Reed (1947) studied this question.