Florida Plant Materials Center Helps Preserve Sweetgrass

With development pressure along the South Carolina coastline greatly reducing the number sweetgrass stands and endangering the basket weaving tradition in the area, the Charleston Division of the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers (USACE) contacted the NRCS Plant Materials Center (PMC) in Brooksville, Florida, to help preserve sweetgrass germplasm for future generations.

Sweetgrass (a.k.a. gulf hairawn muhlygrass, Muhlenbergia filipes) is native to the coastal areas of the south Atlantic and along the Gulf.  In addition to being an important component of the coastal plant community, sweetgrass is the foundation material for African-coiled basketry in the Southeast, particularly in the Gullah/Geechee community around Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina.

“As part of the USACE ‘Dune Vegetation Shore Protection Project’ started in 2005, sweetgrass plants were test planted on Folley Beach, South Carolina, in addition to the normally used beach species such as sea oats (Uniola paniculata), bitter panicum (Panicum amarum), and marshhay cordgrass (Spatina patens),” said Florida Plant Materials Specialist Mimi Williams who also works in South Carolina.  “This work and subsequent test plantings made in 2007-08 by the Brooksville PMC and Clemson University staff confirmed that the sweetgrass, currently accessioned as 9060701, was well adapted to South Carolina coastal conditions.

“USACE plant specialist Tommy Socha Tommy asked us to place the sweetgrass accession that had been given to him from Clemson University staff into the NRCS Plant Materials Program to preserve the plant for future use,” said Mimi.  In addition to focusing on plants as a natural way to solve conservation issues, the mission of the NRCS Plant Materials Program is also to assist in the protection and production of culturally significant plants.

By having this sweetgrass in the Plant Materials Program, the USACE can now specify exactly which sweetgrass they need for South Carolina restoration work.  In fact, the final phase of an almost $30 million re-nourishment project for North Myrtle Beach and Garden City/Surfside Beach specifies the planting of 10,000 sweetgrass (9060701) divisions in addition to over 100,000 ‘Northpa’ bitter panicum and 25,000 ‘Flageo’ marshhay cordgrass plants, which are also products of the Brooksville PMC program.  “Over the years, USACE has realized the value of using NRCS Plant Materials Program plants that have come out of a program that emphasizes tested performance for their coastal restoration work,” Mimi said.  The USACE knows when you start paying almost half a million dollars of tax payer money for plants for just one project, it is nice to know they come from stock that has a proven track record for survival and growth.
Your contact is Florida NRCS Plant Materials Specialist Mimi Williams at 352-338-9544.