This is what one sees if one gets right down into stands of cordgrass shoots. Notice that there are as many standing-decaying blades as there are green, photosynthesizing blades. This is my area of specialty: study of the ascomycetes that are the major microbial secondary producers using standing-dead cordgrass as substrate . See Newell SY, Arsuffi TL, Palm LA, 1998, Seasonal and vertical demography of dead portions of shoots of smooth cordgrass in a south-temperate saltmarsh. Aquat Bot 60:325-335. Here's an image of smooth-cordgrass flowerheads.