Plant Guide > Grasses > Manna Grass > Floating Manna Grass

Floating Manna Grass

Floating Manna GrassGlyceria septentrionalis Hitchc.

Floating Manna-grass is often found in shallow, running water, but the long panicles bear little resemblance to the flowering-heads of Nerved Manna-grass or Rattlesnake Grass.

The spikelets of Floating Manna-grass are long and narrow, and the branches, at first closely appressed, at last spread rather stiffly from the stem.

The manna crop of Germany and Poland is gathered from a species similar to this, and the seeds are there considered desirable in soups and gruels.

Bread made from the meal is said to be very little inferior to that made from wheat, but the American farmer has little time to experiment with so small a grain when the product of years of cultivation is ready for his sowing, and in this country birds gather the harvest by the water's edge, while, as the tall
stems lean over streams, the fallen seeds are eagerly eaten by fish.

Floating Manna-grass. Glyceria septentrionalis Hitchc.

Perennial.

Stem 2-5 ft. tall, rather stout, somewhat flattened, erect or spreading at base. Sheaths loose. Ligule 2"-3" long. Leaves 6'-15' long, 2"-6" wide, flat, roughish.

Panicle 8'-14' long, branches appressed, finally spreading, not numerous, lower branches 3'-6' long. Spikelets 7-13-flowered, 4"-12" long, narrow, green, appressed on the branches. Outer scales unequal; 1st scale obtuse or acute; 2nd scale obtuse: flowering scale obtuse, roughish, 7-nerved; palets slightly longer than flowering scales. Stamens 2 or 3.

Wet places and in shallow water. June to September.

Maine to North Carolina and westward.