Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses

FOWL MANNAGRASS

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Glyceria striata (Lam. ) Hitchc.

Konza Prairie, Riley County, Kansas

Perennial

Height: 20-56 inches

Family: Poaceae - Grass Family

Flowering Period: May, June, July

Culms:

Erect to decumbent at base, slender, smooth, firm, tufted, often rooting at lower nodes.

Blades:

Erect or ascending, flat or folded, 4 to 16 inches long, 1/8 to 2/5 inch wide, smooth to rough, pale green.

Sheaths:

Closed to near summit, rough.

Ligules:

Membranous, truncate, less than 1/6 inch long.

Inflorescences:

Panicle, open, 4 to 10 inches long, pale green or purplish; branches numerous, slender, wavy, ascending at base, drooping at tip; lacking spikelets on lower 1/3.

Spikelets:

Mostly crowded near tips of branches, 3-6-flowered, ovate or oblong, 1/10 to 1/6 inch long; glumes unequal, much shorter than adjoining florets; lemmas blunt, slightly rough, prominently 7-nerved.

Habitat:

Stream, pond and lake margins, moist meadows, open marshes, wet woods.

Distribution:

Throughout Kansas.

Forage Value:

Some forage value but may occasionally contain cyanogenetic compounds.

Comments:

The name is in reference to Biblical manna. In Europe, mannagrass refers to several species of grass whose seeds are used to make flour.

Fowl mannagrass inflorescences