Nerved Manna Grass
Glyceria nervata (Willd.) Trin.Nerved Manna-grass usually precedes the other species by a fortnight, and is perhaps the most common in a majority of the states.
Growing luxuriantly in the borderland between pasture and marsh it furnishes an important part of the herbage of wet meadows, and, though it varies greatly in different soils, the gracefully drooping panicles may be recognized by their spreading and drooping branches and their tiny, purple and green spikelets.
Nerved Manna-grass. Glyceria nervata (Willd.) Trin.
Perennial.
Stem 1-3 1/2 ft. tall, slender, erect. Ligule 1"-2" long. Leaves 6'-12' long, 2"-5" wide, flat, smooth en lower surface, rough above.
Panicle 3'-10' long, pyramidal, open, somewhat nodding, branches slender, spreading or drooping, rough, lower branches 2'-6' long. Spikelets numerous, 3-7-flowered, 1"-2" long, dark green tinged with purple. Outer scales obtuse, unequal, shorter than flowering scales; flowering scales obtuse, sharply 7-nerved; palets as long as flowering scale. Stamens 2 or 3.
Wet meadows, brooksides, and marshes. June to September.
Newfoundland to British Columbia, south to Florida and Mexico.