Grass Roots

Hardy plants like black mangrove, smooth cordgrass, and southern arrowgrass work in tandem with local tree species to hold sediment in place and prevent Louisiana’s coastal land from being washed into the Gulf of Mexico. In favorable conditions, smooth cordgrass grows quite tall, sometimes reaching a towering height of more than seven feet. Black mangrove plays host to several species in the wetlands, providing shelter throughout its canopy and root structure. Brown pelicans build their nests along the top of the shrub, and juvenile fish, shrimp, and crabs take shelter in the water around the roots.

When healthy, this landscape creates a natural barrier that protects wildlife and inland habitats from storm surges. These plants also provide homes for an abundance of insect life, which provides a food source for local and migratory birds and other animals that inhabit the wetlands. Flowering plants including spring spider lily, Louisiana blue flag iris, yellow passionflower, and seaside goldenrod attract pollinators that help support fruit-bearing plant species such as elderberry and wild black cherry. In addition to the expansive grassy wetlands that make up the coast, cypress forests store floodwaters, hold soil in place, and provide a protective barrier to storms. While these forests are still a prominent feature of Louisiana’s coastline, large expanses of them were destroyed by the logging industry from the 18th through 20th century.

Many coastal plants have also been used by human populations for food, medicine, household goods, and cultural rituals. Plants such as elderberry, lizard’s tail, and Spanish moss were used in traditional Indigenous, Cajun, and Creole medicinal practices to reduce fevers, treat stomach ailments, and reduce inflammation and pain. Healers from French-speaking communities were known as traiteurs and traiteuses, and many still practice and share their knowledge today. Spanish moss—which drapes on cypress and live oaks—was also used to stuff mattresses, dolls, furniture cushions, and even automobile seats well into the 20th century. Neither Spanish nor a moss, the flowering plant grows in long, curving chains of leaf clusters and is native to the subtropical regions of the Americas and the Caribbean.

Indigenous cultures, including the Coushatta, Chitimacha, and Choctaw, have relied on wetland grasses and river cane for weaving baskets, mats, and sculptures. As access to these natural fibers has diminished because of habitat loss, many artisans have adapted their weaving techniques to use pine cones and needles. The United Houma Nation has a tradition of weaving baskets, mats, hats, and other goods from dried palmetto fronds. Palmetto mats were commonly used to provide lightweight roofing for housing structures that could easily be assembled and disassembled as groups moved around the region seasonally.

After colonial Europeans brought enslaved Africans to the region, these enslaved people turned to the land as well. They were often barred from burying their dead in dedicated cemetery plots or graveyards. These segregated funerary practices led to many enslaved people mapping out their own cemeteries. They developed a common practice of planting large and long-enduring native plants, such as yucca, as headstones. Archaeologists working throughout the southern United States have uncovered evidence of yucca plant grave markers being used by rural communities of African Americans throughout the 18th and 19th centuries.

Invasive species, deforestation, pollution, soil-diverting levee infrastructure, and oil spills have taken a toll on Louisiana’s native plant species and are a continual threat to the health and safety of our region’s unique ecosystem. Efforts to help rebuild the eroding coastline by replanting species like bald cypress and cordgrass have grown in recent years. Increasing awareness of these threats is the best way to empower our local, state, and national communities to support policies and adopt practices that reduce both man-made and natural threats to the environment. To learn more about Louisiana’s wetlands, explore our collections and visit our ongoing exhibition A Vanishing Bounty: Louisiana’s Coastal Environment and Culture.