Leersia virginica - (image 1 of 4)
Taxonomy
Family: Poaceae
Habitat
Common on wooded floodplains. Also along shaded paths in rich woods.
Associates
Distribution
Throughout eastern U.S. and Canada.
Morphology
Slender, weak, erect or decumbent, rhizomatous grass to 1.5 m; culms flattened. Leaf blades flat, smooth to scaberulous, rarely hairy; ligules membranous, short, truncate. Panicle branches 1 per node; spikelets 1 flowered, oblong, up to 4 mm long and 1-2 mm broad, laterally compressed, scarcely imbricate, articulated at the base; glumes lacking; lemma smooth to pilose on the sides; stamens 2; stigmas 2.
Notes
Flowers late July to late September
Wetland indicator: Facultative Wetland
Not sure where this plant gets the name "white grass". The only parts that are distinctly white seem to be the anthers and the stigmas.
References
Gleason, Henry A. and A. Cronquist. 1991. Manual of Vascular Plants of Northeastern United States and Adjacent Canada. Second Ed.
The New York Botanical Garden. Bronx, NY
Swink, F. and G. Wilhelm. 1994. Plants of the Chicago Region.
Indiana Academy of Science. The Morton Arboretum. Lisle, Illinois.
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Michael Hough © 2009 |