Prairie Cordgrass (Spartina pectinata) — Native Louisiana Wetland Grass

Prairie Cordgrass (Spartina pectinata)

This is the grass that built the bayou. Prairie Cordgrass is the tall, arching native grass of Louisiana's wet prairies and marsh margins — a robust, rhizomatous giant that reaches 7 feet tall, with long saw-edged leaves that catch the wind in dramatic waves and turn rich gold in fall. It is one of the most ecologically important grasses in North America, essential for wetland restoration, stream bank stabilization, and wildlife habitat across the Gulf South.

Grown and shipped from Big Mamou Enterprises — Bayou Self, Lake Charles, Louisiana.

Botanical Profile

• Botanical Name: Spartina pectinata
• Family: Poaceae (Grass family)
• Native Range: North America from Quebec to Texas; native to Louisiana wet prairies, marsh margins, and bayou edges
• USDA Hardiness Zones: 4–9
• Mature Size: 4–7 feet tall; spreads by rhizomes
• Bloom Time: July–September
• Sun: Full sun
• Soil: Wet to moist; tolerates standing water, clay, and periodic flooding; ideal for rain gardens and pond margins

Ecological Role

Prairie Cordgrass provides critical nesting cover for marsh wrens, red-winged blackbirds, and sedge wrens. Its seeds are consumed by waterfowl and sparrows. Its dense rhizome mats stabilize wet slopes and bayou banks, preventing erosion in saturated soils where other grasses fail. It is among the most important freshwater wetland restoration grasses in North America.

Cajun Heritage & Cultural Use

Known in Cajun tradition as herbe à lien — binding grass — for its tough, flexible leaves used in basket weaving, mat making, and roof thatching. Some families called it herbe coupante — cutting grass — for the razor-sharp leaf margins that drew blood from the unwary hand. The traiteur tradition recognized that a plant which built the shelter keeping the family warm was a medicine in the most fundamental sense.

In the Cajun Prairie Garden

Part of the Prairie Movement Strip collection at Big Mamou Enterprises — the tall, wind-swept signature of the Louisiana wet prairie. Plant where its colonizing habit is an asset: stream banks, rain garden edges, pond margins, and wet restoration sites.

⚠ Caution: Leaf margins are sharp — handle with gloves.