Calamagrostis canadensis |
Calamagrostis perplexa |
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bluejoint, bluejoint grass, bluejoint reedgrass, calamagrostide du Canada, Canada reed grass |
wood reedgrass |
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Habit | Plants with sterile culms; cespitose, with rhizomes 2-15+ cm long, 1-3 mm thick. | Plants with sterile culms; weakly cespitose, with rhizomes 8+ cm long, 1.5-2 mm thick. | ||||||||
Culms | (32)65-112(180) cm, often branching above the base, smooth or slightly scabrous beneath the panicles; nodes (2)3-7(8). |
(80)85-110(120) cm, sometimes branched, smooth or slightly scabrous beneath the panicles; nodes 4-6. |
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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. |
smooth; collars densely hairy; ligules (3)4-6(7) mm, lacerate; blades (10)15-30(35) cm long, (3)4.5-6.5(7) mm wide, flat, scabridulous, adaxial surfaces glabrous or sparsely hairy. |
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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. |
10-18(20) cm long, (1)2-3 cm wide, open, erect to nodding, green, purple-tinged; branches 5-6.5 cm, spikelets usually confined to the distal 1/4-1/2. |
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Spikelets | 2-4.5(5.2) mm; rachilla prolongations 0.5-1 mm, hairs 1.5-3.2 mm. |
(3)3.5-4 mm; rachilla prolongations about 1 mm, hairs about 2 mm. |
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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. |
keeled, scabrous on the keels, lateral veins usually prominent, apices acuminate; callus hairs 2-3 mm, 0.7-1 times as long as the lemmas, somewhat sparse; lemmas 3-3.5 mm, 0.5-1 mm shorter than the glumes; awns 2-3 mm, attached to the lower 1/4-1/3 of the lemmas, not exserted, stout, distinguishable from the callus hairs, bent; anthers 1-1.5 mm. |
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2n | = 42-66. |
= 70. |
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Calamagrostis canadensis |
Calamagrostis perplexa |
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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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NY |
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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 perplexa grows on wet rocks and in dry woods at "Thatcher's Pinnacle" [Pinnacle Rock], Tompkins County, New York. There is also an unverified report of this species in Columbia County, New York. This apparently sterile species is intermediate between C. porteri (p. 721) and C. canadensis (see next) (Greene 1980). It is of conservation concern because of its limited distribution. (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. 726. | ||||||||
Parent taxa | Poaceae > subfam. Pooideae > tribe Poeae > Calamagrostis | Poaceae > subfam. Pooideae > tribe Poeae > Calamagrostis | ||||||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||
Synonyms | C. anomala | C. porteri subsp. perplexa | ||||||||
Name authority | (Michx.) P. Beauv. | Scribn. | ||||||||
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