Sea Oats

Description:

Sea oats is a species of grass that grows along the East Coast and the Gulf Coast of the United States, Mexico, and on islands in the Caribbean. Sea oats are well suited to saline environments, and as such, are important to barrier island ecology and are often used in soil stabilization projects because their long root structure firmly holds loose soil. Sea oats are a protected grass in most states along the East Coast. Picking or disturbing sea oats is punishable by fine in Georgia, Florida, and North Carolina. Recently, Floridian ornithologists discovered that the pygmy burrowing owl makes its nest within sea oat colonies to conceal its young from natural predators such as the frigatebirds.

Habitat:

These sea oats were spotted on the dunes along the Gulf of Mexico at Grayton Beach State Park, Santa Rosa, Florida.