Glyceria leptostachya

Narrow manna grass, Narrow Manna Grass

Family: Poaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Narrow manna grass is a California native perennial found in northwestern California, the high Cascade Range, central Coast, and San Francisco Bay Area in freshwater marshes and lakes at elevations below 800 meters. Flowering from May to June, this plant produces delicate grass-like inflorescences 20 to 40 centimeters long with narrow, cylindric spikelets. Growing with tall stems 1 to 1.5 meters high and 2 to 4 millimeters in diameter, it forms dense clusters in wet habitats. Its leaf blades are 4 to 10 millimeters wide, flat to slightly rolled, with ligules 4 to 9 millimeters long. The grass produces spikelets 10 to 20 millimeters long containing 8 to 14 florets with truncate to broadly rounded lemma tips.

Habitat: Freshwater marshes, lakes

Bloom period: May-Jun

Elevation: < 800 m

Bioregions: NW, CaRH, CCo, SnFrB

California counties: Sonoma, Alameda, Marin, Siskiyou, San Francisco, Shasta, Mendocino, Sierra, Contra Costa

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