Glyceria declinata

Low manna grass, Low Manna Grass

Family: Poaceae · Type: perennial · Not Native

Conservation status: Cal-IPC Yes

Low manna grass is a naturalized perennial herb found in northern California Coast, Klamath Ranges, northern Coast Ranges, and other regions including Central Valley and Southern California in vernal pools, freshwater marshes, and seasonally wet areas at elevations below 1,300 meters. Flowering from May to June, this grass produces small, narrow spikelets in compact clusters approximately 6 to 30 centimeters long. Growing as a tufted perennial with rhizomes, it forms dense clumps with stems 20 to 90 centimeters tall and 1.5 to 2.5 millimeters in diameter. Its leaves have narrow blades 3 to 12 centimeters long and 1.5 to 6 millimeters wide, with ligules 4 to 9 millimeters long. Each spikelet contains 5 to 14 florets with lemmas that have distinctive three-lobed tips.

Habitat: Common. Vernal pools, freshwater marshes, disturbed, seasonally wet areas

Bloom period: May-Jun

Elevation: < 1300 m

Bioregions: n NCo, KR, NCoR, CaR, SNF, GV, CCo, SCo, expected elsewhere

California counties: Calaveras, Humboldt, Marin, Shasta, Riverside, Tehama, San Benito, Sonoma, Tulare, Solano, Siskiyou, Yuba, Sacramento, Sutter, Amador, Butte, San Joaquin, Nevada, Mendocino, Santa Cruz, Contra Costa, Plumas, Placer, Merced, Mariposa, Lake, Stanislaus, San Luis Obispo, Fresno, Monterey, Yolo, San Diego, Madera

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.