On a very cold and foggy day, we visited the Hayward Shoreline to explore the salt marsh communities. The initial response once we got there was that it was very peaceful, not too many people came there and it is usually cold since it is near the shore. All of us were given books with which we may identify the different plants in the salt marsh communities and also the different animals we would expect to see in this type of environment. Although all of the plants we saw were in the same community, there were a variety of plants that varied from close to the water to near the road we were walking on.
Cord grass was one of the first plants seen. Since it is not native, it must have been taken over (1). It has a resemblance to corn and is the first plant seen near the water (1). Since it is near the water, it must have been tolerant to salt marsh. It has underground rhizomes/stems that are hollow, which helps it adapt to the salt marsh community (1). Another plant that we saw near the water was the pickle weed. It appeared to be very fleshy and red. Pickle weed must be able to live in saltier environments since it is located at a point near the water where the water may have been at one time and since the water has been flushed out, only the salt remains (2). The salt grass, which was not as near the water as pickle weed was, also has established itself in the salt marsh community. This plant has a resemblance to the berminita grass (1). One may assume it is given the name of salt grass since it excretes salt, perhaps to keep at equilibrium to retain enough water. .
The dusty road we walked on was home to many of the plants in the salt community. Some were supposed to be there, while others were aliens that adapted to the community. The sea lavender was the first plant we saw that had flowers. Along the road we also saw oats, which are proven to be great survivors (1), most likely one of the reasons they are so far away from the water.
