Glyceria alnasteretum
Glyceria acutiflora
Aleutian glyceria
creeping mannagrass, sharp-scale manna grass
60-90 cm tall, 2.5-4 mm thick, erect.
30-100 cm tall, 3-6 mm thick, spongy, usually decumbent and rooting at the lower nodes.
smooth, not keeled;
ligules 2-3 mm, rounded to truncate;
blades 5-20 cm long, 3-7 mm wide, abaxial surfaces smooth, adaxial surfaces scabrous, apices acute.
smooth, weakly keeled;
ligules 5-9 mm;
blades 10-15 cm long, 3-8 mm wide, abaxial surfaces smooth, adaxial surfaces of the midcauline leaves often papillose.
15-22 cm long, 12-16 cm wide, open, pyramidal, erect to nodding;
branches 8-10 cm, lower branches widely divergent to drooping.
often racemes, sometimes panicles, 15-35 cm long, 1-2 cm wide, open at anthesis, bases often enclosed in the flag leaf sheaths at maturity;
branches 5.5-8 cm (absent in racemose plants), solitary or in pairs, appressed, most branches with 1-3 spikelets, the lower branches sometimes with more than 3;
pedicels 1.5-2.5 mm.
7-9 mm long, 3-4.5 mm wide, with 5-8 florets.
20-45 mm long, 2.5-3 mm wide, cylindrical and terete except slightly laterally compressed at anthesis, rectangular in side view, with 5-12 florets.
unequal, lanceolate, acute;
lower glumes 2-3.5 mm;
upper glumes 2.5-3.5 mm, longer than wide;
lemmas 3-5.5 mm, 7-veined, obtuse to acute;
paleas shorter than or subequal to the lemmas, keels not winged, apices not strongly incurved, emarginate between the keels;
anthers 3, 0.7-1.2 mm.
unequal, acute;
lower glumes 1.3-4.5 mm;
upper glumes 3-7 mm;
rachilla internodes 2-3 mm;
lemmas 6-8.5 mm, scabridulous, 7-veined, gradually tapering from near midlength to the narrowly acute (< 45°) or acuminate apices;
paleas 0.7-3 mm longer than the lemmas, keels winged, tips parallel, intercostal region truncate, often splitting, apices appearing bifid, with 0.4-1 mm teeth;
anthers 3, 1-2 mm.
not seen.
about 3 mm.
= 20.
= 40.
Glyceria alnasteretum
Glyceria acutiflora
Glyceria alnasteretum is included in this treatment with some hesitation, based on van Schaack 724 (W'l'LJ 152646) and van Schaack 887 (MO 1710727), both collected at Signal Point, Attu Island, Alaska in 1945. The above description is based on Komarov (1963) and Koyama (1987), modified to reflect the wider panicles and longer glumes and lemmas of the van Schaack specimens. The difference in habitat is troubling. The van Schaack specimens were found "in a beachside meadow" and "near beach." Koyama describes the habitat of G. alnasteretum as "wet meadows and marshes at high altitudes as well as subarctic zone" (p. 114). Nevertheless, the van Schaack specimens fit the description of G. alnasteretum better than any other taxon in this treatment. Clearly, further investigation is called for; it should include plants from both sides of the Bering Strait.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Glyceria acutiflora grows in wet soils and shallow water of the northeastern United States, extending from Michigan and Missouri to the Atlantic coast between southwestern Maine and Delaware. Its long paleas make G. acutiflora the most distinctive North American species of sect. Glyceria.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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