Sporobolus anglicus
(C.E.Hubb.) P.M.Peterson & Saarela · speciesAt a glance
Sources10 archives
Databases and archives Sporobolus anglicus's data was compiled from.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation9 languages↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility1 236 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI14 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics20 specimens↗
NCBIUS National Library of Medicinesequences↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
CCDBChromosome Counts DB · Tel Aviv U.genome & karyotype↗
GoaTGenomes on a Tree · Sangergenome & karyotype↗
GLoBIGlobal Biotic Interactionsbiotic interactions↗Every layer below draws on the sources above — open one to explore it, or use ← → to move between tabs.
Sporobolus anglicus (common cordgrass) is a species of cordgrass that originated in southern England in about 1870 and is a neonative species in Britain. It was reclassified as Sporobolus anglicus after a taxonomic revision in 2014,Peterson, PM , et al (2014) A molecular phylogeny and new subgeneric classification of Sporobolus (Poaceae: Chloridoideae: Sporobolinae), Taxon 63: 1212-1243. but Spartina anglica is still in common usage. It is an allotetraploid species derived from the hybrid Sporobolus × townsendii, which arose when the European native cordgrass Sporobolus maritimus (Small Cordgrass) hybridised with the introduced American Sporobolus alterniflorus (Smooth Cordgrass). It is a herbaceous perennial plant growing 0.4-1.3 m tall, yellowish green in spring and summer, and turning light brown in autumn and winter. The leaves are 20–60 cm long, and 1.5 cm broad at the base, tapering to a point. It produces flowers and seeds on only one side of the stalk. The flowers are a yellowish-green, turning brown by the winter.
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
Size & morphology20
Life cycle & reproduction12
Diet & foraging2
Habitat & environment11
Physiology & chemistry9
Other traits1
A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Sporobolus anglicus has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.
The complete instruction manual Sporobolus anglicus carries — its genome. We read it from three angles — how big it is, how the DNA is packed into chromosomes, and how completely it has been sequenced — and explain how to read each value as you go.
Genome sizehow big the whole instruction manual is
Measured in base pairs (bp) — the individual letters of DNA (human ≈ 3.2 Gb, a bacterium a few million). The chart places this genome on a logarithmic scale — each step to the right is ten times bigger — among reference organisms. Across species a bigger genome loosely tracks with larger cells, slower growth and lower-energy lifestyles (powered flight favours small genomes) — yet it does not imply more genes or a more advanced organism (the long-standing C-value paradox).
Chromosomes & ploidyhow the DNA is packaged
2n is the full chromosome count in a normal body cell; n is a gamete (egg or sperm), which carries half. Ploidy is how many complete chromosome sets each cell holds — 2× (diploid) is typical for animals, while higher levels (polyploidy) are common in plants. Click any value below to see the underlying records and sources.
2n 1225×GoaT · DTOL Flowering Plants Estimates Kew · GoaT · Kew Plant DNA C-values Database · CCDB · brit-fl +1
2n 1203×GoaT · DTOL Flowering Plants Estimates Kew · CCDB · brit-fl
2n 1243×GoaT · DTOL Flowering Plants Estimates Kew · CCDB · brit-fl · CCDB · eflora
2n 901×GoaT · DTOL Flowering Plants Estimates Kew
2n 1281×CCDB · book-ipcn67-71
How far back this lineage goes — and how we know. Everything here is measured in Ma, short for “mega-annum”: millions of years ago. The chart reads left to right like a calendar of the Earth, from the deep past on the left to today at the right edgetop to bottom like a core drilled through the Earth, from the deep past at the top down to today at the bottom.
At a glance
When this lineage existed
How to read this: the coloured strip along the bottomdown the left is the geological calendar — the standard epochs (Pliocene, Pleistocene…) every museum uses, shown so you can see which chapter of Earth's history this lineage lived in. This lineage is a young one, so the strip is zoomed in to epochs — the finer subdivisions inside a period. The orange marker is the DNA clock: DNA accumulates mutations at a roughly steady rate, so comparing this species' DNA with its relatives estimates when the lineage split off — independently of any fossil.
Record type1 236 records
Origin
Range
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence
Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.
Cultivated / Captivenot free-living
A living individual in a botanical garden, zoo or nursery — cultivated or kept, not free-living.
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Holding institutions8 of 17 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
| Institution | Specimens |
|---|---|
| Christchurch, NZ | 60 |
| Hobart, AU | 50 |
| Museo Entomologico de Leonlocation not on record | 35 |
| Auckland, NZ | 31 |
| Canberra, AU | 13 |
| Museo civico La Terra e l'Uomo di Crocetta del Montellolocation not on record | 8 |
| Adelaide, AU | 6 |
| National Museum Waleslocation not on record | 4 |
| QVMAGlocation not on record | 4 |
| Canadian Museum of Nature, National Herbarium of Canadalocation not on record | 3 |
| Naturalis Biodiversity Centerlocation not on record | 3 |
| Mount Annan, AU | 2 |
| Brisbane, AU | 2 |
| Moscow State Universitylocation not on record | 1 |
| Royal Botanic Gardens, Kewlocation not on record | 1 |
| Dekalb, US | 1 |
| MeiseBGlocation not on record | 1 |
Cultivated / Captivenot free-living
A living individual in a botanical garden, zoo or nursery — cultivated or kept, not free-living.
Where the DNA of Sporobolus anglicus was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.
Signal
Where its DNA was found
How strong is each trace?
Modelled climatemodelled
How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.