Spartina alterniflora

Basic information
Scientific name	Spartina alterniflora	(No picture)
Common names	Saltmarsh cordgrass, Atlantic cordgrass, salt-water cordgrass, smooth cordgrass
Higher taxon	Poaceae, Poales, Liliopsida, Magnoliophyta
Natural range	Eastern North America, Caribbean islands, eastern South America.
Habitat	Marsh along rivers, dry beach, etc.

Invasion information
Range in Japan	Aichi (Toyohashi and Handa Cities) and Kumamoto (Kumaoto and Uki Cities) Prefs.
Origin	Unknown. A research suggested different origins between Kumamoto and Toyohashi, and Handa populations.
Date	2008 or earlier
Route	Unknown. Possibly accidental: with ballast water
Impact	Competition with native species. Destruction of marsh. Native organism(s) affected: Native plants and animals along marsh along rivers and dry beach.
Regulation in Japan	Invasive alien species (Invasive Species Act) Release of this species is prohibited in Aichi Prefecture (29 Mar 2012).
Introduced range in other countries	Continental China, India, Australia, New Zealand, UK, France, Spain, USA (Washington, California)

Reference

Notes

GRIN Taxonomy for Plants (Accessed on 2012-2-29) http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/paper.pl
Introduced Spartina alterniflora/hybrids (smooth cordgrass) (Accessed on 2012-2-29) http://www.spartina.org/species/spartina-alterniflora-hy_v2.pdf
ISSG. Global Invasive Species Database (GISD) (Accessed on 2012-2-29) http://www.issg.org/database/welcome/.
Noxious Weed Integrated Vegetation Management Guide (Accessed on 2012-2-29) http://members.efn.org/~ipmpa/Noxcontents.html
etc.

Spartina spp. is designated as a invasive alien species from June 2014