Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center

Aquatic and Wetland Vascular Plants of the Northern Great Plains

Glyceria R. Br. -- Mannagrass


Rhizomatous perennials with flat leaf blades and open panicles; sheaths tubular, the margins united for most of their length. Spikelets few- to many-flowered, ovoid to linear, subterete or slightly compressed, disarticulating above the glumes and between the florets; glumes unequal, acute or obtuse, scarious, 1-nerved; lemmas rounded on the back, usually obtuse and scarious at the tip, 7-nerved; palea about equaling the lemmas, nerved marginally and winged backward toward the grain; stamens 3 or 2.

Reference:
  
Church, G. L.  1949.  A cyto-taxonomic study of Glyceria and 
     Puccinellia.  Amer. J. Bot. 36:155-165.
Lead Characteristic Go To
1 Spikelets linear, mostly 6- to 13-flowered, 9-15 mm long; panicle branches stiff, erect to ascending. G. borealis
1 Spikelets ovoid to narrowly ovoid, 3- to 7(9)-flowered, 2.5-7 mm long; panicle branches lax, spreading or drooping at maturity. Lead 2
2 First glume 1-2 mm long; lemmas 2.5-3 mm long; panicle 20-35 cm long. G. grandis
2 First glume 0.5-1 mm long; lemmas 1.5-2 mm long; panicle 6-15(20) cm long. G. striata

63. Poaceae, the Grass Family
13. Glyceria R. Br. -- Mannagrass
1. Glyceria borealis (Nash) Batch. -- Northern mannagrass
2. Glyceria grandis S. Wats. -- American mannagrass
3. Glyceria striata (Lam.) Hitchc. -- Fowl mannagrass


Return to Family -- Poaceae - The Grass Family
Return to Contents
NPWRC Home | Site Map | About Us | Staff | Search | Contact | Web Help | Copyright

Accessibility FOIA Privacy Policies and Notices

Take Pride in America home page. FirstGov button U.S. Department of the Interior | U.S. Geological Survey
URL: http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/plants/vascplnt/genglyce.htm
Page Contact Information: npwrc@usgs.gov
Page Last Modified: August 3, 2006