Seed Production of Sea Oats Collected from a Wide Geographic Range and Grown in Louisiana.

Coastal erosion and wetland deterioration are serious and widespread problems that affect the entire United States.  Off all the states in the continental United States, Louisiana endures the largest amount of wetland loss.  Wetland loss in Louisiana is a major concern because it precedes land loss.  To mitigate land loss in Louisiana extensive vegetative-based restoration efforts have been initiated.  A variety of native plants are being used for these efforts including sea oats (Uniola paniculata L.), a perennial, cross-pollinated dune plant.  Sea oats are used in dune building and vegetative stabilization projects in Louisiana because of their high rate of vegetative spread, which accumulates sand and builds dunes. Unfortunately, the distribution of sea oats in Louisiana is limited and may be due to the low number of seeds produced along Louisiana’s Gulf Coast.  Typically, 0.091 to 0.002 seeds per spikelet are produced in Louisiana while 2 to 2.24 seeds per spikelet are produced in North and South Carolina.  The objective of this study was to determine seed production of sea oats lines grown in Louisiana that were collected from a wide geographic range in the United States.