Flora of North America species comparison

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Scolochloa festucacea

common rivergrass, rivergrass, sprangletop, whitetop
Culms

70-200 cm tall, 6-8 mm thick at the base.
Panicles

15-30 cm;

primary branches ascending to divergent, with spikelets appressed to the branches.
Spikelets

7-11 mm.
Lower glumes

5-8 mm;

upper glumes 6.5-10 mm;

calluses about 0.5 mm;

lemmas 4-9 mm;

paleas about as long as the lemmas;

anthers 2-4 mm.
Ligules

3-7(9) mm;

blades 20-45 cm long, 4-12 mm wide.
2n

= 28.

Scolochloa festucacea
Distribution
from FNA
AK; IA; ID; KS; MN; MT; ND; NE; OR; SD; WY; AB; BC; MB; NT; SK; YT
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Scolochloa festucacea grows in ponds, marshes, seasonally flooded basins, and the shallow margins of freshwater to moderately saline lakes and streams. It provides good nesting cover for some waterfowl and shorebirds, and can provide valuable forage for livestock and wildlife. It does not compete well with hybrid cattails (Typba latifolia x T. angustifolia or T. domingensis).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 24, p. 734.
Parent taxa Poaceae > subfam. Pooideae > tribe Poeae > Scolochloa
Synonyms Fluminia festucacea
Name authority (Willd.) Link
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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(If the plant you're looking for doesn't show up in the auto-complete list, that means it either isn't described in Flora of North America yet, or it's listed under a synonym. And please note that Flora of North America is still missing several plant families, including Fabaceae, Apiaceae, Boraginaceae, and Polemoniaceae.)

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