Reed canary grass

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Reed canary grass

Reed canary grass blades

Reed canary grass post-flowering inflorescence

Reed canary grass

Reed canary grass

Reed canary grass ligule

Reed canary grass habit

Reed canary grass blades

Reed canary grass Reed canary grass post-flowering inflorescence

Reed canary grass ligule

Reed canary grass leaf

Reed canary grass

Reed canary grass habit

Reed canary grass flowering inflorescence

Morphology

Culm

Erect, occasionally bent at base, coarse, glabrous.

Blades

Flat or slightly keeled, 3 to 16 inches long, 1/4 to 3/4 inch wide, glabrous or scabrous, margins rough, midrib prominent beneath, tip tapering to long point.

Sheath

Round, glabrous, sometimes purplish, usually longer than internodes or the upper are sometimes shorter, prominently air-chambered.

Ligule

Thin papery membrane, pointed or rounded, tip entire to torn.

Inflorescence

Panicle, 3 to 7 inches long, .4 to 1.5 inch wide, dense, narrow, spreading during flowering, contracted later, lobed or interrupted, often reddish or purplish at flowering, straw-colored to whitish in fruit.

Spikelets

Occur in clusters on short ascending branches, crowded, lanceolate, about .2 inch long, pale, glabrous to pubescent, 3-flowered; florets 1 fertile, 2 sterile; glumes nearly equal, ovate to lanceolate, narrow, rough, 3-nerved, greenish-white to purplish, becoming straw-colored, tips pointed; fertile lemmas lanceolate, shiny, tan, glabrous or with light pubescence, awnless; sterile lemmas reduced to minute hairy scales.

Ecology

Habitat

Wet places; river banks, ditches, stream and pond edges.

Distribution

Throughout Kansas.

Practical Information

Forage Value

Good to fair forage for livestock and good hay when cut prior to maturity. Produces large yields. Also used for silage.

Uses

Waterfowl will nest in it. Native Americans made mats from reed canary grass.

Additional Notes