Western Wetland Flora
Field Office Guide to Plant Species
Calamagrostis neglecta (Ehrh.) P. Gaertn., B. Meyer
- Family: Grass (Gramineae)
- Flowering: July-August
- Field Marks: The 1-flowered spikelets of this grass have short, straight awns and glumes that are up to 1/6 inch long. The panicles are narrow and contracted. The lemma has a tuft of hairs at the base.
- Habitat: Marshes, wet meadows, along streams, around ponds and lakes.
- Habit: Perennial grass with rhizomes.
- Stems: Upright, unbranched, hollow, up to 4 feet tall, smooth or rough to the touch.
- Leaves: Elongated, rolled into a tube, rarely flat or folded, 1/6-1/4 inch wide, smooth, hairy or rough to the touch; ligules usually about 1/6 inch long, minutely hairy.
- Flowers: Borne in spikelets, with many spikelets in a contracted panicle up to 8 inches long; glumes up to 1/6 inch long, smooth or rough to the touch, sometimes purplish; lemma with an awn up to 1/8 inch long and with a tuft of hairs at the base of the lemma.
- Sepals: 0.
- Petals: 0.
- Stamens: 3.
- Pistils: Ovary superior, smooth.
- Grains: Ellipsoid, smooth.
- Notes: This species is sometimes united with C. inexpansa. It provides fair forage for cattle and horses. The grains are eaten by birds and small mammals.
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