Northern Sea Oats

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Use with caution

Northern Sea Oats

Chasmanthium latifolium · Poaceae

How it looks

A perennial grass whose flat, oat-like spikelets dangle from slender arching branches. The seed heads are green in spring and early summer, turn tan through summer, and take on a purplish cast in fall. The flat green leaves are 13–23 cm long and bamboo-like, and the clump reaches 60–150 cm at maturity. Native to central and eastern North America, it is sold in Korea as a summer cut-flower and dried-arrangement material.

No toxicity data available

Northern Sea Oats is not listed in the ASPCA's toxic plants list for cats, and NC State Extension has no toxicity data for it either. With no confirmed evidence either way, we cannot call it safe — exercise caution if your cat has access to it.

Guide for parents

Northern Sea Oats has no official toxicity data, so it is hard to say for certain whether it is safe.

Cats chew on grasses instinctively, and this is a true grass — so it is more likely to end up in your cat's mouth than most cut flowers are. The less evidence there is about a plant, the more it is worth simply limiting access. Keeping cat grass available gives your cat somewhere else to direct that urge.

It is also worth remembering that this is usually kept as a dried arrangement. Dried seed heads shed into small pieces, and a piece on the floor is something a cat will carry around like a toy. Check under the vase now and then.

If ingestion is suspected, or you see vomiting, diarrhea, or loss of appetite, contact your vet.