Mountain ricegrass
Prepared by Jennifer L. D’Appollonio, Assistant Scientist, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469. Updated February 2018.
Scientific name: Piptatherum pungens (Torr. ex Spreng.) Dorn; also Oryzopsis pungens (Torr. ex Spreng.) Hitchc.; also Piptatheropsis pungens (Torr.) Romasch., P.M. Peterson & R.J. Soreng
Common name(s): mountain ricegrass, sharp piptatherum, short-horned ricegrass, short-awned mountain ricegrass, slender mountain ricegrass, northern ricegrass
Link(s): 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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- early June
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- advanced seed stage
Description:
– perennial
-leaf blade is 0.5–1.8 mm in width
-spikelet is 3.5–4.5 mm long
-inflorescence
– may be confused with P. canadense, which also occurs in wild blueberry fields, or Oryzopsis asperifolia; see left sidebar on Go Botany webpage
– endangered in CT, threatened in VT, of concern in RI
Habitat:
-deciduous/ mixed evergreen deciduous forests
-disturbed sites
-cliffs
-ledges
Sources:
Go Botany. “Piptatherum Pungens (Torr. Ex Spreng.) Dorn.” Piptatherum Pungens (Short-Awned Mountain-Rice Grass): Go Botany, 2021, gobotany.nativeplanttrust.org/species/piptatherum/pungens/.
Acknowledgement(s):
Eric T. Doucette, Ph.D. – Assistant Professor of Biology, MA College of Liberal Arts, North Adams, MA (updated Feb 2018)