Calamagrostis canadensis |
Calamagrostis |
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bluejoint, bluejoint grass, bluejoint reedgrass, calamagrostide du Canada, Canada reed grass |
reed grass |
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Habit | Plants with sterile culms; cespitose, with rhizomes 2-15+ cm long, 1-3 mm thick. | Plants perennial; often cespitose, usually rhizomatous. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Culms | (32)65-112(180) cm, often branching above the base, smooth or slightly scabrous beneath the panicles; nodes (2)3-7(8). |
10-210 cm, unbranched or branched, more or less smooth, nodes 1-8. |
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Sheaths | smooth or scabrous; collars usually scabrous, rarely smooth or hairy; ligules (1)3-8(12) mm, lacerate; blades (10)16-31(50) cm long, 2-8(11) mm wide, flat, lax, abaxial surfaces scabrous, adaxial surfaces usually strongly scabrous, rarely smooth or with scattered hairs, often glaucous. |
open, smooth or scabrous; auricles absent; ligules membranous, usually truncate to obtuse, sometimes acute, entire or lacerate, lacerations often obscuring the shapes; blades flat to involute, smooth or scabrous, rarely with hairs. |
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Panicles | (6)9-17(25) cm long, (1)2-4(8) cm wide, often contracted when young, open at maturity, nodding, usually purplish, sometimes greenish to straw-colored; branches 2.7-6(12) cm, scabrous, spikelets sparsely to densely concentrated on the distal 2/3. |
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Inflorescences | panicles, open or contracted, sometimes spikelike; branches appressed to more or less drooping, some branches longer than 1 cm. |
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Spikelets | 2-4.5(5.2) mm; rachilla prolongations 0.5-1 mm, hairs 1.5-3.2 mm. |
pedicellate, weakly laterally compressed, with 1(2) florets; rachillas prolonged beyond the base of the distal floret(s), usually hairy; disarticulation above the glumes. |
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Glumes | rounded or keeled, smooth or scabrous, keels often long-scabrous, lateral veins obscure to prominent, apices acute to acuminate; callus hairs (1.5)2-3.5(4.5) mm, (0.5)0.9-1.2(1.5) times as long as the lemmas, abundant; lemmas 2-3.1(4) mm, 0-2.1 mm shorter than the glumes; awns 0.9-3.1 mm, attached to the lower (1/10)1/5-1/2(7/10) of the lemmas, usually not exserted, delicate, often difficult to distinguish from the callus hairs, usually straight; anthers (0.8)1.2-1.6(2.6) mm. |
membranous, subequal, equal to, or longer than the lemmas, rounded or keeled, backs smooth or scabrous, rarely long-scabrous with bent projections, veins obscure to prominent, apices acute to acuminate, rarely awn-tipped or attenuate; lower glumes 1(3)-veined; upper glumes 3-veined; calluses hairy, hairs 0.2-6.5 mm, sparse to abundant; lemmas 3(5)-veined, smooth or scabrous, apices usually tapering into 4 teeth, awned; awns arising from near the base to near the apices, straight or bent, sometimes delicate and indistinct from the callus hairs, sometimes exserted beyond the lemma margins; paleas well developed, almost as long as to slightly longer than the lemmas, thin, 2-veined; anthers 3, sometimes sterile. |
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Caryopses | shorter than the lemmas, concealed at maturity, oblong, usually glabrous, x = 7. |
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2n | = 42-66. |
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Calamagrostis canadensis |
Calamagrostis |
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Distribution |
AK; AZ; CA; CO; CT; DE; GA; IA; ID; IL; IN; KS; KY; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MT; NC; ND; NE; NH; NJ; NM; NV; NY; OH; OR; PA; RI; SD; TN; UT; VA; VT; WA; WI; WV; WY; AB; BC; MB; NB; NL; NS; NT; NU; ON; PE; QC; SK; YT; Greenland
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AK; AL; AR; AZ; CA; CO; CT; DC; DE; GA; IA; ID; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MT; NC; ND; NE; NH; NJ; NM; NV; NY; OH; OR; PA; RI; SC; SD; TN; UT; VA; VT; WA; WI; WV; WY; HI; AB; BC; MB; NB; NL; NS; NT; NU; ON; PE; QC; SK; YT; Greenland |
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Discussion | Calamagrostis canadensis is a species of moist meadows, thickets, bog edges, and forest openings. It grows from sea level to 3400 m. It occurs widely throughout the Flora region, except in Oklahoma, Texas, and the southeastern United States. Its range also extends from northern Asia to northeastern China and Japan, with additional scattered populations elsewhere in Asia. Calamagrostis canadensis is closely related to, and possibly conspecific with, the European C. purpurea (Trin.) Trin. It hybridizes with Ammophila breviligulata (p. 777) in Grand Island, Michigan and on the adjacent mainland, forming xCalammophila don-hensonii Reznicek & Judz. Calamagrostis canadensis also appears to form hybrids with the nearly sympatric C. porteri (p. 721) in rocky wooded sites in central Virginia. These putative hybrids have hairy collars, relatively long callus hairs, and short awns. The apparently sterile C. perplexa (see previous) is intermediate between C. canadensis and C. porteri (Greene 1980). A high degree of pollen sterility has been documented in some populations, suggesting that seed formation via apomixis is common; sexual reproduction is also documented. The many forms, varieties, and subspecies that have been described for this species probably represent clones. The three varieties recognized here intergrade, and an argument could be made that their recognition is not warranted. Nevertheless, the extreme forms along the gradient of variation can be distinguished most readily by the glumes. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Calamagrostis grows in cool-temperate regions and is especially diverse in mountainous regions. Its species grow in both moist and xeric habitats. There are about 100 species of Calamagrostis, if Deyeuxia Clarion ex P. Beauv. and Lachnagrostis are recognized as distinct from Calamagrostis. The latter two genera are often considered to be restricted to the Southern Hemisphere (Edgar 1995; Jacobs 2001). According to the criteria used by Phillips and Chen (2003) to distinguish Calamagrostis and Deyeuxia, most North American species of Calamagrostis fit within Deyeuxia. There has been insufficient time to evaluate the merits of their recommendation, adoption of which would require many new combinations. Twenty-five species of Calamagrostis grow in the Flora region; one, C. epigejos, is introduced. Some species of Calamagrostis are rangeland forage grasses, but most occur too sparsely to be important for livestock. Agriculture Canada in Alberta experimented with cultivation of some western species during the 1960s and 1970s. This treatment includes one cultivar, Calamagrostis ×acutiflora 'Karl Foerster', that is becoming increasingly popular in horticulture. A cultivar of C. canadensis has been registered for use in revegetation in arctic Alaska. Interspecific hybridization is common; vivipary and agamospermy also occur in some species. Interspecific hybridization, polyploidy, and apomixis contribute to the taxonomic difficulty of the genus. Some species of Calamagrostis are of interest because of their restricted distributions. These include: C. howellii (Columbia Gorge in Washington and Oregon); C. tweedyi (Washington, Oregon, and Montana); C. tacomensis (Washington and Oregon); C. ophitidis, C. foliosa, C. muiriana, and C. bolanderi (California); C. breweri (California and Oregon); and C. cainii (North Carolina and Tennessee). An incomplete draft treatment of this genus was prepared by Craig W. Greene in 1993, with minor revisions made until 1999. After Greene's death in 2003, completion of the treatment was taken up by Marr and Hebda. The taxa recognized here essentially follow Greene's concepts, with the following exceptions: Calamagrostis breweri sensu Greene (1993) has been split into C. muiriana and C. breweri sensu Wilson and Gray (2002); C. tacomensis is recognized as a species distinct from C. sesquiflora; and C. purpurascens var. laricina Louis-Marie and C. striata subsp. borealis (C. Laest.) Á. Löve & D. Love are not recognized. Descriptions of eastern North American taxa are largely based on Greene's (1980) observations. Northwestern North American taxa are described on the basis of Marr and Hebda's data and field experience. Other western United States taxa were also examined as herbarium specimens; their descriptions include observations by Marr and Hebda. Greene's key was rewritten to conform with the new data. There is a high degree of misidentification of taxa within this genus (30% for some species in some herbaria), and species distributions should be taken as a guide only. Much more field collecting is needed for several of the taxa in order to verify their distributions, especially near the limits of their ranges. Calamagrostis is sometimes confused with Agrostis; there is no single character that distinguishes all species of Calamagrostis from those of Agrostis. In general, Calamagrostis has larger plants with larger, more substantial lemmas and paleas than Agrostis, and tends to occupy wetter habitats. Measurements of the rachilla and callus hairs reflect the longest hairs present. Panicle widths refer to pressed specimens.The following key will enable typical specimens to be identified readily, but atypical specimens are common. For this reason, most leads require observation of a combination of characters, notably awn length, length of callus hairs relative to the lemma, glume length and scabrosity, panicle size, and leaf width. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 24, p. 726. | FNA vol. 24, p. 706. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Parent taxa | Poaceae > subfam. Pooideae > tribe Poeae > Calamagrostis | Poaceae > subfam. Pooideae > tribe Poeae | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Synonyms | C. anomala | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Name authority | (Michx.) P. Beauv. | Adans. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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