Small Cord-grass (Spartina maritima)
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Vascular plant > flowering plant > Grass |
| Red List Status: | Endangered (Not Relevant) [EN(nr)] |
| D5 Status: | Included in the baseline Red List Index for England (Wilkins, Wilson & Brown, 2022) |
| Section 41 Status: | (not listed) |
| Taxa Included Synonym: | (none) |
| UKSI Recommended Name: | Spartina maritima |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | (Curtis) Fernald |
| UKSI Recommended Qualifier: | (none specified) |
| Red List Citation: | in Stroh et al., 2014 |
| Notes on taxonomy/listing: | (none) |
Criteria
| Question 1: | Does species need conservation or recovery in England? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Spartina maritima was assessed as EN in England due to a dramatic decline in its extent of occurrence (EOO) since the 1950s (Stroh et al., 2014). This was confirmed by the results of Plant Atlas 2020 which showed a dramatic decrease in occupied hectads (Stroh et al., 2023). This decline has been shown to be largely as a result of 'coastal squeeze' i.e. seaward erosion of the saltmarsh edge and landward loss due to land reclamation and development (e.g. ports, docks, marinas, etc.). Competition with S. anglica may have also played a part but that species occupies a lower saltmarsh niche than S. maritima (Garbutt et al., 2015). |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | This species will benefit from specific recovery actions to restore its habitat and through reintroductions to historic sites. |
| Question 3: | At a landscape scale, would the species benefit from untargeted habitat management to increase habitat mosaics, structural diversity, or particular successional stages? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Coastal realignment work in southern and eastern England is likely to create suitable saltmarsh habitat for S. maritima in the longer term. |
Species Assessment
| Current step on the Species Recovery Curve (SRC): | 2. Biological status assessment exists |
| Recovery potential/expectation: | Unknown |
| National Monitoring Resource: | Opportunistic - sufficient |
| Species Comments: |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Ex situ cultivation on large-scale.
Action targets: 5. Remedial action identified
Action type: Ex situ conservation
Duration: 3-5 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 5 sites
High priority sites:
Comments:
Key Action 2
Proposed Action: Identification of suitable sites as part of saltmarsh creation / coastal realignment schemes within the historic range in eastern and southern England.
Action targets: 6. Recovery solutions trialled
Action type: (Re-)introduction
Duration: 6-10 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 20 sites
High priority sites: Historic sites in southern/eastern England
Comments:
Key Action 3
Proposed Action: Improve identification of Spartina species amongst botanical recorders as some records for Spartina maritima may be depauperate forms of Spartina anglica
Action targets: 3. National Monitoring Plan agreed and implemented
Action type: Education/awareness raising
Duration: 2 years
Scale of Implementation: Unknown
High priority sites:
Comments:
Acknowledgment:
Data used on this website are adapted from Threatened species recovery actions 2025 baseline (JP065): Technical report and spreadsheet user guide (Natural England, 2025). Available here.