Scientific Name
Glyceria striata (Lam.) Hitchc. (Synonyms: Glyceria elata; Glyceria nervata; Panicularia nervata; Panicularia striata)
Common Name(s)
Fowl mannagrass, tall mannagrass
Tribe / Family Name
Meliceae
Flowering Period
June to August
Symbol
GLST
Description
Fowl mannagrass is a native, cool-season perennial, rhizomatous grass. Culms usually range from 20–80 cm in height. Its inflorescence is an open panicle 6–25 cm long with spreading branches, pyramidal in shape, and often nodding. Spikelets are 1.8–4 mm long, ovate, laterally compressed, purplish, 3- to 7-flowered, and unawned. Ligules are up to 4 mm long, membranous, obtuse or acuminate, entire or erose, and glabrous; usually closed in front like a membranous cylinder around the stem.
General Info
This long-lived plant with moderately succulent culms can be found along stream sides, wet meadows, lake margins, seeps, bogs, foothills, plains, and usually in aspen groves or coniferous forests or willow thickets at mid to subalpine elevations.
Similar Species
Fowl mannagrass may look similar to other mannagrass (Glyceria) plants. Look for the smaller spikelets and narrower leaf blades of this type of grass when comparing it with other mannagrass plants.
Inflorescence is an open panicle with spreading branches, pyramidal in shape, and often nodding.
Close-up picture of spikelet.
Close-up picture of membranous ligule.
Illustration of fowl mannagrass. USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Hitchcock, A.S. (rev. A. Chase). 1950. <i>Manual of the grasses of the United States</i>. USDA Miscellaneous Publication No. 200. Washington, DC.