In 1894, smooth cordgrass arrived in Willapa Bay, Washington, in a shipment of oyster transplants. In the 1970s, cordgrass from Georgia was purposely introduced to Siuslaw Estuary in Oregon to stabilize shorelines and increase vegetative cover.

Flower stalks of California
cordgrass (left) and hybrid (right)

Hybrid cordgrass clogging a creek
Photo credit: San Francisco Estuary Invasive Spartina Project
www.spartina.org (left & right)
Reference
Western Aquatic Plant Management Society. http://www.wapms.org/.