Effects of Cutting and Seed Production in Spartina Anglica

Early researchers were puzzled by the variation in quantity and quality of the seed. They considered that 'good' and 'bad' seeding years were associated with the climatic conditions prevailing during the summer and autumn months, at the times of flowering and of ripening of the seed respectively. The viability of the seed presented a serious problem to those interested in the use of Spartina as a means of stabilizing mudflats. Quantities of seed were despatched to many countries during the 1930s, but there are few records of the success of this method of distribution, although Bryce (in litt.) later successfully despatched seed via the tropics in vacuum flasks. Seed is known to retain viability for up to 6 months under humid storage conditions (van Schreven 1958; Goodman 1960). Studies on germination in varying levels of salinity were made by Jacquet (1949) and van Schreven (1958). Two distinct taxa have been recently separated from the complex known in the past as S. townsendii (s.l.). No fertile seed has so far been collected from the male sterile, primary hybrid, now known as S. x townsendii H. & J. Groves. The other cord grass, now known as S. anglica (Hubbard 1968), is responsible for the mass of seed which in the main has resulted in the rapid extension of the Spartina marshes around the shores of Great Britain, and elsewhere in western Europe. This paper describes the behaviour of Spartina seed collected from a cutting trial