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Western Wetland Flora

Field Office Guide to Plant Species

Tall Manna Grass
Glyceria elata (Nash ex Rydb.) M.E. Jones

JPG -- Species Photo JPG -- Distribution Map

Family: Grass (Gramineae)
Flowering: June-August
Field Marks: The spikelets of this manna grass are up to 1/4 inch long and contain 4-8 flowers. The rather succulent stems may be as much as 6 feet tall, and the leaves are 1/6-1/2 inch wide.
Habitat: Wet meadows, moist woods, in shallow streams, ponds and lakes, ditches, around springs, in the mountains.
Habit: Perennial herb with creeping rhizomes.
Stems: Upright, usually unbranched, rather succulent, up to 6 feet tall, smooth.
Leaves: Elongated, 1/6-1/2 inch wide, rough to the touch; ligules up to 1/4 inch long, finely hairy.
Flowers: 4-8 in a spikelet, with many spikelets arranged in an open panicle up to 10 inches long; spikelets up to 1/4 inch long, somewhat flattened; lemmas with 7 nerves.
Sepals: 0.
Petals: 0.
Stamens: 2.
Pistils: Ovary superior, smooth.
Grains: Narrow-ovoid, smooth.
Notes: The seeds are eaten by waterfowl.

Previous Species -- Small Floating Manna Grass (Glyceria borealis)
Return to Species List -- Group 2
Next Species -- Holy Grass (Hierochloe odorata)

U.S. Department of the Interior | U.S. Geological Survey
URL: http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/plants/florawe/species/2/glycelat.htm
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Page Last Modified: Saturday, 02-Feb-2013 06:23:59 EST
Reston, VA [vaww54]