Grasses and short plants grow in the salt marsh. They tend to have stout stems, small leaves and the ability to rid their tissues of excess salt. Most of the plants you see are saltgrass, cordgrass and pickleweed. Saltgrass has special pores on its leaves where salt crystals can push out. Pickleweed also concentrates salt in its leaves. The leaves turn red as the salt concentration gets higher and eventually the plant simply drops its leaves.
Did You Know?
A 1° F increase in average temperature seen in California over the last 100 years has led to Sierra snow melting 2 to 4 weeks earlier and flowers blooming 1 to 2 weeks earlier. Temperatures are predicted to increase another 1° to 2° F in the next 25 years.
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