beach grass

1 3.7

A tough grass with strong roots that grows on sandy shores and stops sand dunes from moving

noun
/biːtʃ ɡræs/

: hierba de playa

The beach grass grew firmly along the coastline, helping to prevent erosion on the sandy dunes.
dunes anchored with beach grass
European beach grass

Examples

Here, European beach grass (Ammophila arenaria), introduced to stabilize inlet shorelines, spread rapidly and created a higher, more linear, better-vegetated foredune than existed previously.

Academic text (1990)
Seeds and bits of beach grass deposited in the storm debris and rhizomes growing from the dune scarp develop into vegetation that traps still more sand and increases the size of the new dune.

Academic text (1990)
A rustic home surrounded by huge pine trees and beach grass overlooking the ocean.

Fiction book (2002)
Beach grass is tolerant of salt and can survive being buried alive by sprouting new roots from the base of its buried stems.

Blog text (6)
Nestled in the protective beach grass, a piping plover incubates four mottled tan-and-black eggs.

Academic text (1994)
Beach grass seeds are also excellent at colonizing newly deposited or eroded sands left bare from cataclysmic storms like Sandy.

Blog text (6)
They crossed the narrow width of the island and looked down a far more precipitous slope of sand dunes, anchored with beach grass, sea holly, and sea kale.

Fiction book (1990)
During our walk, we admired the way the beach grass swayed gently in the breeze near the shore.
The wildlife thrives in the area where beach grass plants provide shelter and stabilize the sandy environment.

Synonyms

spinifex

vsbeach grass

Australian

1 9.6

A tough grass with sharp leaves that grows on sandy coasts and dry dunes

is the nonspiny tough grass with strong roots that stabilizes sand

Spartina

vsbeach grass

Specialized

1 9.5

Grasses that grow in coastal salt marshes and help stop erosion

is the grass of exposed sandy shores that stabilizes dunes with roots

cordgrass

vsbeach grass

Specialized

1 8.9

A tall grass that grows in coastal marshes and helps stop erosion

is the tough sand shore grass that stabilizes exposed dunes rather than marshes

Ammophila

vsbeach grass

Specialized

9.9

A grass that grows on sand dunes and holds them together

is the tough shallow coastal grass that stabilizes exposed dunes

marram

vsbeach grass

8.4

A coarse grass that grows on sand dunes and holds sand in place

is the general tough sandbound grass that stabilizes coastal dunes

Elymus arenarius

vsbeach grass

Specialized

9.9

A grass that grows on sandy coasts and helps keep sand from being carried away by wind or water

is the naturally occurring tough grass that stabilizes exposed sandy shores

Leymus arenaria

vsbeach grass

Specialized

9.9

A dune grass that grows on Pacific beaches to hold sand and stop erosion

is the common tough shore grass with strong roots that stabilizes dunes

lyme grass

vsbeach grass

8.1

A coarse grass that grows on sandy shores and keeps sand in place

is the tough shore grass characterized by strong roots stabilizing sand

sea lyme grass

vsbeach grass

8.2

A tough grass that grows on sand near the sea to hold the dunes in place

is the tough coastal grass that naturally stabilizes exposed sandy dunes

European dune grass

vsbeach grass

7.7

A grass from Europe that grows on sand and holds dunes together

is the locally growing tough grass that stabilizes exposed sandy shores

cord grass

vsbeach grass

Specialized

7.2

A tall grass that grows in marshes near the sea and helps hold the soil

is the shore dune grass focused on binding loose sand with strong roots

How Hardy

beach grass

1 3.7

prairie grass

1 3.5

meadowgrass

6.0

delicate

188 3.8

Surface Forms

beach grass singular

beach grasses plural

Morphology

beach + grass

The meaning 'a grass that grows on the shore' is directly and compositionally derived from combining 'beach' (shore) + 'grass' (plants), following a regular noun-noun compounding pattern. This is a common, cross-linguistic descriptive construction, so a B1 learner who knows both words will readily infer the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

Beach grass is the grass that grows on the beach and has strong roots that hold the sand in place. Imagine the roots like hands holding the sand, so 'beach grass' means the grass that keeps dunes and the shoreline from washing away.