Marram Grass

Marram grass creates its own habitat through clonal expansion. Its rhizomes bind sand together; as sand accumulates around stems, the rhizomes grow upward, creating dunes. The clone builds the landform it inhabits. Remove the grass and the dune erodes. The organism and the landscape are inseparable.

This dune-building capacity made marram grass valuable for coastal engineering. Humans planted it worldwide to stabilize dunes and prevent erosion. But the same aggressive expansion that makes it useful for stabilization makes it invasive where it wasn't native. In California and New Zealand, marram grass displaces native dune vegetation, homogenizing coastal ecosystems.

Marram grass demonstrates clonal strategy adapted for harsh, shifting substrate. In stable soils, clonal expansion is relatively straightforward. In moving sand, the clone must grow upward as fast as sand accumulates or be buried. The rhizome network is both anchor and escape system, holding position while enabling vertical migration.

The business insight is that some clonal strategies create their own environment. Marram grass doesn't just tolerate dunes - it builds them. Companies that create market infrastructure, establish standards, or shape regulatory environments aren't just occupying territory; they're creating the terrain others must navigate. The clone that builds the landscape has advantages the landscape's shape provides.