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Distichlis spicata - Hordeum jubatum Wet Meadow Alliance | NatureServe Biotics 2019
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Name: Distichlis spicata - Hordeum jubatum Wet Meadow Alliance
Reference: NatureServe Biotics 2019
Description: This alliance occurs throughout the Great Plains where saline soils create conditions suitable for it. Dominant vegetation is a mixture of short and mid grasses and can have moderately sparse to dense cover. Vegetation height and cover and species diversity tend to vary inversely with salinity. <i>Distichlis spicata</i> is the most abundant species in stands across the range of this alliance. Other species include <i>Bassia scoparia, Grindelia squarrosa</i> (in the northern portion of this alliance's range), <i>Hordeum jubatum, Iva annua, Pascopyrum smithii</i> (on less saline stands), <i>Poa arida, Puccinellia nuttalliana</i> (in the north), <i>Salicornia rubra</i> (on more saline stands), <i>Bolboschoenus maritimus, Sporobolus airoides, Suaeda calceoliformis</i> (on more saline stands). Widely scattered low shrubs, especially <i>Atriplex patula</i> and <i>Sarcobatus vermiculatus</i>, can be found on sites in the western and central Great Plains. Trees are not found. Stands of this alliance are found in depressions and along the margins of saline lakes and ponds. Most of the stands are flooded or saturated for a few weeks in the spring and after heavy rains; some have water present for most of the growing season. The soils range from sand to clay and from moderately well-drained to poorly drained. Most are deep and moderately to strongly saline. Stands that have good drainage in the surface soils usually have a deeper impermeable or slowly permeable layer that allows retention of water. Fires which spread from upland prairies may have moved through the more dense stands, but many stands did not have sufficient vegetation to support fires. 
Accession Code: urn:lsid:vegbank.org:commConcept:38209-{D61843B8-20C4-4A0E-BB96-0DDEA31DC172}
Plot-observations of this Community Concept: 0
      Party Perspective according to: NatureServe (organization)
Perspective from: 08-Jan-2014 to: ongoing
      Names:   UID: ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.899115 NatureServe ExplorerNatureServe Explorer logo
  Code: A1341
  Translated: Saltgrass - Foxtail Barley Wet Meadow Alliance
  Common: Great Plains Saltgrass Saline Wet Meadow
  Scientific: Distichlis spicata - Hordeum jubatum Wet Meadow Alliance
(convergence) and Synonyms:
(similar) A.1341
(similar) Distichlis spicata - (Hordeum jubatum) Temporarily Flooded Herbaceous Alliance