Distichlis spicata(L.) Greene

Saltgrass

WFO wfo-0000865007 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h

Distichlis spicata, photographed by Millie Basden
fig. a Millie Basden, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-05-22 / obs. 199794005
Distichlis spicata, photographed by Millie Basden
fig. b Millie Basden, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 189136475
Distichlis spicata, photographed by laiet17
fig. c laiet17, CC0 1.0 / obs. 197932026
Distichlis spicata, photographed by paulexcoff
fig. d paulexcoff, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 189368055
Distichlis spicata, photographed by Mike Ostrowski
fig. e Mike Ostrowski, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 186444199
Distichlis spicata, photographed by Millie Basden
fig. f Millie Basden, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 187114324
Distichlis spicata, photographed by Bob Miller
fig. g Bob Miller, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 187309939
Distichlis spicata, photographed by paulexcoff
fig. h paulexcoff, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 187790697

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Confused withby our own model

These are not lookalikes we guessed at. Each one is a species our identification model genuinely mistook for this plant, and how many times. The error rate is published.

Flowering n = 451 observations

Peak flowering in Jun, from 451 community-annotated observations worldwide. This is a global aggregate, not a forecast for your garden: the same species flowers on different dates in different hemispheres, and citizen-science records cluster near cities, at weekends, and in spring. Where a species has fewer than 30 annotated records we do not draw this chart at all.

Also published as 75 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Agropyron peruvianum (Lam.) Roem. & Schult.
  • Brachypodium peruvianum (Lam.) Roem. & Schult. ex Kunth
  • Briza spicata (L.) Lam.
  • Briza spicata Burm.f.
  • Brizopyrum americanum Link
  • Brizopyrum boreale J.Presl
  • Brizopyrum ovatum Nees ex Steud.
  • Brizopyrum prostratum (Kunth) Benth. ex E.Fourn.
  • Brizopyrum prostratum var. erectum E.Fourn.
  • Brizopyrum prostratum var. humile E.Fourn.
  • Brizopyrum spicatum (L.) Hook. & Arn.
  • Brizopyrum spicatum var. strictum (Torr.) S.Watson
  • Brizopyrum thalassicum (Kunth) Nees
  • Distichlis araucana Phil.
  • Distichlis dentata Rydb.
  • Distichlis deserticola Phil.
  • Distichlis hirsuta Phil.
  • Distichlis hirta Phil.
  • Distichlis marginata Phil.
  • Distichlis marginata var. stricta (Torr.) Thurb.
  • Distichlis maritima Raf.
  • Distichlis maritima var. laxa Holm
  • Distichlis maritima var. stricta (Torr.) Thurb.
  • Distichlis mendocina Phil.

and 51 more.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice, no toxicity claim and no native range, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.