| Author | (Fernald) Saarela | |
| Distribution | Outer Banks and other barrier islands only. Native populations occur south to Oregon Inlet, and perhaps to Cape Hatteras; but its status southward is unclear, as it was extensively planted to stabilize dunes. The website editors have mapped records from Hyde County southward as Provenance Uncertain.
Coastal, Newf. to NC; inland around the Great Lakes. | |
| Abundance | In NC, uncommon to frequent south to Oregon Inlet; rare to uncommon farther southward. | |
| Habitat | Maritime dunes, less so on upper beaches. |
| Phenology | Flowering and fruiting August-October. | |
| Identification | As a sand stabilizer, American Beach-grass is known for its extensive rhizome system that links plants and holds sand from readily drifitng. The leaves are long, narrow, curved, and glaucescent. Flowering stems usually grow 1.5-3 feet tall, topped by a narrowly cylindrical (spike-like), straw-colored inflorescence. | |
| Taxonomic Comments | Long known under the name Ammophila breviligulata. Weakley (2018) treats our plants as subspecies breviligulata, as distinguished from subspecies champlainensis of Lake Champlain in VT and NY. FNA states that the two overlap in all morphological characters.
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| Other Common Name(s) | Dune Grass, Beach Grass | |
| State Rank | S3 | |
| Global Rank | G5 | |
| State Status | | |
| US Status | | |
| USACE-agcp | | |
| USACE-emp | | |
