Canadian ricegrass
Prepared by Jennifer L. D’Appollonio, Assistant Scientist, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469. Updated February 2018.
Scientific name: Piptatherum canadense (Poir) Dorn; also Piptatheropsis canadensis (Poir.) Romasch., P.M. Peterson & R.J. Soreng; also Oryzopsis canadensis (Poir.) Torr. ex A.Gray
Common name(s): Canadian ricegrass, Canada ricegrass, Canada mountain-ricegrass, Canadian mountain-rice, Canada mountain-rice grass
Links: USDA PLANTS Profile, NPIN Profile, Go Botany
Images: (to see enlargements [PC]: click on image, then right click and choose “view image”)
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- in fruit, early June
Description:
– perennial
-leaf blade width is 0.5–2 mm
– may be confused with P. pungens, which also occurs in wild blueberry fields; see left sidebar on Go Botany webpage
– a species of Special Concern in Maine, endangered in MI, NH, NY
Distribution:
-rare in New England
-few populations in Maine and New Hampshire
Habitat:
-rocky nutrient poor soils
-cliffs
-meadows and fields
-woodlands
Acknowledgement(s):
Go Botany. “Piptatherum Canadense (Poir.) Dorn.” Piptatherum Canadense (Canada Mountain-Rice Grass): Go Botany, 2021, gobotany.nativeplanttrust.org/species/piptatherum/canadense/.
Eric T. Doucette, Ph.D. – Assistant Professor of Biology, MA College of Liberal Arts, North Adams, MA (updated Feb 2018)