Saltmarsh Cordgrass is the tall grass of the estuaries, growing at the edges of swift channels and wide bays. I grew up calling it Spartina Alterniflora, but recent advances in genetic testing have revealed it to be part of the Sporobulus family of grasses, and it was reclassified in 2019. Whatever you call it, it is the base of the salt marsh, providing habitat, nutrients, and oxygen to the estuary. These “services” have economic values for people too: