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Calamagrostis canadensis

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Kingdom
  
Family
  
Scientific name
  
Calamagrostis canadensis

Rank
  
Species

Order
  
Genus
  
Calamagrostis

Higher classification
  
Calamagrostis

Calamagrostis canadensis Calamagrostis canadensis bluejoint Canada reed grass Go Botany

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Grasses, Calamagrostis, Spartina pectinata, Scirpus cyperinus, Elymus canadensis

Minnesota native plant blue joint grass calamagrostis canadensis


Calamagrostis canadensis is a species of grass, having three or more varieties, in the Poaceae family. It is known variously by the common names of bluejoint, bluejoint reedgrass, marsh reedgrass, Canadian reedgrass, meadow pinegrass, and marsh pinegrass.

Contents

Varieties

Calamagrostis canadensis Calamagrostis canadensis Wikipedia

Calamagrostis canadensis takes the form of at least three varieties, including the type. The U.S. Forest Service names others.


  •  The type variety (and autonym), is C. c. var. canadensis. This is the name for C. canadensis after varieties of it were named, and is used only to differentiate it from the other, newer varieties. The common name is bluejoint
  •  C. c. var. langsdorffii. It is also called bluejoint.
  •  C. c. var. macouniana. It is known as Macoun's reedgrass. It was named for Canadian Botanist James Melville Macoun.
  • Distribution

    The varieties often overlap in where they are distributed.

    In the United States

    Most states in the U.S. have one or more varieties of C. canadensis, the most common by distribution being C. c. var. canadensis. Only Minnesota, New Hampshire, New York, and Vermont have all three; and only one, Kentucky, has C. c. var. macouniana with no others.

    Calamagrostis canadensis Bluejoint Grass Calamagrostis canadensis

    15 states have only C. c. var. canadensis, without others (Arizona, Delaware, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Maryland, Maine, North Carolina, Nevada, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming); and no state has C. c. var. langsdorffii without sharing territory with C. c. var. canadensis.

    Calamagrostis canadensis Online Virtual Flora of Wisconsin Calamagrostis canadensis

    14 states have both C. c. var. canadensis and C. c. var. macouniana, without C. c. var. langsdorffii (Connecticut, Iowa, Illinois, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Nebraska, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Virginia, and Wisconsin); and only seven have both C. c. var. canadensis and C. c. var. langsdorffii, and no C. c. var. macouniana (Alaska, California, Colorado, Georgia, Montana, Oregon, and Washington)

    In Canada and elsewhere

    All three varieties are native to parts of Canada: the provinces of Alberta, Manitoba, Northwest Territories, Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan have all three varieties; British Columbia, Labrador, Newfoundland, and Yukon Territory have both C. c. var. canadensis and C. c. var. langsdorffii; New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island have both C. c. var. canadensis and C. c. var. macouniana; and only Nunavut is the home of just one variety, C. c. var. langsdorffii.

    Two other places have varieties of C. canandensis, though neither have C. c. var. macouniana: Greenland has C. c. var. langsdorffii; and the French territorial islands of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon have C. c. var. canadensis

    Habitat

    C. canadensis can be found in many types of habitat, including forest, taiga, and tundra in subarctic regions. It is the most common and widespread Calamagrostis species on the continent.

    Description

    It is a perennial grass with a branching stem reaching heights between 60 centimeters and 1.5 meters. The flat, drooping leaves are rough with tiny hairs. The inflorescence is up to 25 centimeters long and may be open and loose or narrow and densely packed with spikelets. Each spikelet is about half a centimeter long and purplish in color.

    It is a palatable food plant for livestock and wild grazing animals. It is a tough rhizomatous grass that provides soil stability in wet areas and is one of the first plants to reestablish on sites of recent oil spills. It can be a nuisance on sites of forest restoration, because it can outcompete conifer seedlings.

    References

    Calamagrostis canadensis Wikipedia


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