Taxonomy
Family: Poaceae
Habitat
Moist woods.
Associates
Distribution
Circumboreal, south to PA, northern IL, MN, and CA, and in mountains to NC.
Morphology
Perennial to 1.5 m; nodes 3-7. Leaves to 15 mm wide; ligules mostly colorless. Inflorescence a lax and open panicle, branches of the inflorescence slender and divaricate or recurved, pale green and rather shiny; first glume 2.3-3.8 mm; second glume 1-nerved, 2.6-4.1 mm, nearly smooth except on the keel, margins scarious and constituting half the width; awn to 1.5 mm.
Notes
Flowers July to September
Wetland indicator: Facultative Wetland +
Reports of this species in northern IL are apparently misidentifications of C. arundinacea (Common Wood Reed) which has crowded and ascending panicle branches and 3-veined second glumes.
References
Gleason, Henry A. and A. Cronquist. 1991. Manual of Vascular Plants of
Northeastern United States and Adjacent Canada. Second Ed.
The New York Botanical Garden. Bronx, NY
Swink, F. and G. Wilhelm. 1994. Plants of the Chicago Region.
Indiana Academy of Science. The Morton Arboretum. Lisle, Illinois.
Michael Hough © 2010 |