I have come across a few stems in a New England salt marsh that lack the definitive characteristics of S. patens and D. spicata. They tend to have a more robust stem than S. patens and also have alternating blades but lack the typical alternating pattern and blue-green color that I'm used to seeing with Distichlis. These stems tend to have alternating blades with 2 in a row on a given side. The attached picture shows a stem of S. patens on the right for comparison.
Hard to tell from your photo. Best bet to find a local botanist/herbarium curator. The two on a side seems odd. Could be Sporobolus virginicus? Paspalum vaginatum has been plated all over the place as a salt tolerant grass, worth looking at that one too. Quite possible for southern grasses range extensions, we now have a red mangrove tree 9 years old here on the north Gulf of Mexico Coast.
Thanks. After examining more samples (including several that were flowering), both samples appear to be S. patens.
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