Carolina Environmental Diversity Explorations
A blackwater river from sea to source · By Dirk Frankenberg
Salt marsh cord grass & black needle rush plants (2)
Figure 8. Typical salt marsh plant zonation pattern (Photograph by the author. More about the photograph)
Figure 8 shows a typical zonation of the two salt marsh plants shown first in figure 7. Note that the salt marsh cord grass is close to the water both in the foreground and background. The black needle rush does not appear in the foreground at all, but occupies a zone landward of the cord grass in the marsh in the background. As is probably obvious, the landward portion of the marsh surface is flooded less regularly than the creekside portion. The creek floods out of its banks with each high tide, but it floods deeply enough to immerse the black needle rush zone only a few times each month.
