sea oats


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sea oats

pl.n. (used with a sing. or pl. verb)
A tall rhizomatous coastal grass (Uniola paniculata) of the southeast United States, Mexico, and the West Indies.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

sea′ oats`


n.
a tall grass, Uniola paniculata, of coastal areas of SE North America, having as its inflorescence a densely crowded panicle.
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
References in periodicals archive ?
Discover the 25-mile Cape Canaveral National Seashore, which is known for its pristine location and dunes dotted with sea oats for a serene getaway.
Shade gardeners should try cultivars of Japanese forest grass (Hakonechloa macra) or northern sea oats (Chasmanthium latifolium).
The spit of land between the beach and a thick plot of sea oats and muhly grass marks the fragile nesting area for one of Florida's most imperiled bird species, the snowy plover.
Highway Flat (MM 74.5 Oceanside): Just a few feet off the highway, the former Sea Oats Beach is now devoid of sea oats.
Species ranking 2 through 5 in importance varied among seasons, but Uniola paniculata (sea oats), Oenothera drummondii (beach evening primrose), and Chamaecrista fasciculata (partridge pea) were among the top five species in importance in each season.
This year the students also planted sea oats, which helps minimize beach erosion.
You see it in a slant of the light, a shade of purple at twilight, and the gentle sway of sea oats on the dunes.
Visitors apparently loved to dig for the eggs of sea turtles, said to be great for cooking, and to pick the island's sea oats. Plans to protect the island with a seawall in 1930 were never carried out, and the island began to noticeably erode.
As the sun sets over Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge on Alabama's Gulf Coast, the silhouettes of the sea oats that grow on the frontal dunes, swinging slightly in the wind, stand in a breathtaking contrast to the deep red of the sky.
the sea oats shudder in their suburbs, and a pelican
As soon as sea oats, American beach grass and other perennials begin to crowd into an area, amaranth steals away to take up life in a different place.