''Glyceria canadensis'' is a species of

grass Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns a ...

in the genus ''

Glyceria ''Glyceria'' is a widespread genus of grass family common across Eurasia, Australia, North Africa, and the Americas. ''Glyceria'' is known commonly as mannagrass in the United States, or, in the UK, sweet-grass. These are perennial rhizomatous ...

'' which is known by the common name rattlesnake mannagrass. It is native to North America, from

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

to Newfoundland and south to

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...

. It is commonly found in wet areas.

Habitat

''G. canadensis'' is an obligate wetland species, meaning it will not grow in areas which are not wetlands. These habitats include moist woods, marshes, swamps, wet woods, and shores along streams and lakes.

Description

''Glyceria canadensis'' is a species of perennial bunchgrass which can grow up to 1m tall. The leaves are between 3-8mm wide, as with other species in the genus ''

'' the leaf sheaths are fused for the majority of their length. Flowers are produced in a panicle typically between June and September depending on location. The panicle is typically open, containing few

spikelet A spikelet, in botany, describes the typical arrangement of the flowers of grasses, sedges and some other Monocots. Each spikelet has one or more florets. The spikelets are further grouped into panicles or spikes. The part of the spikelet that ...

s and each spikelet tends to droop giving the overall inflorescence a curved shape. Each spikelet is 3-5mm long and contains 5-10 individual florets. The

lemmas Lemma may refer to: Language and linguistics * Lemma (morphology), the canonical, dictionary or citation form of a word * Lemma (psycholinguistics), a mental abstraction of a word about to be uttered Science and mathematics * Lemma (botany), ...

are 2.9-4mm long. ''G. canadensis'' hybridizes with ''

Glyceria grandis ''Glyceria grandis'' is a species of grass known by the common name American mannagrass. It is native to Canada and the United States, where it is widespread in distribution. It is most commonly found in wet areas such as riverbanks and ponds. D ...

'' to form the hybrid ''Glyceria canadenis × grandis''. This hybrid is very similar to ''G. canadensis'' but with spikelets containing between 3-6 florets as opposed to 5-10 found in ''G. canadensis''. The hybrid occurs in the same habitat as ''G. canadensis''. This hybrid has been recognized by some authors as ''Glyceria laxa''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3109336 canadensis