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”)

 

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)