Relatives
Calamagrostis canescens (Web.) Roth. - Purple Small-reed.
Taxonomic position.
Family Poaceae Barnhart, genus Calamagrostis Adans.Synonyms.
C. lanceolata Roth, C. lithuanica Bess., Arundo canescens Web., A. calamagrostis L.Morphology and biology.
Perennial herbaceous plant. Culms 70-130 cm tall, branched. Leaves 2.5-5 mm wide, narrow-linear, flat, slightly scabrous, glabrous or covered with long thin hairs on upper surface. Panicles rather lax, drooping, 10-12 cm long, 2-3.5 cm wide. Spikelets 4-5 mm wide, violet-colo.ed, glumes with very short spinules only on keels. Lemma broadly lanceolate, with very poorly developed, often almost completely reduced awn arising from upper third of the lemma. Callus hairs slightly longer than lemma. Rudimentary rachilla missing or very short (up to 0,5 cm long), glabrous, less often with relatively few hairs. Apomict. Flowers in June, fruits in July. 2n=28.Distribution.
European part of the former USSR, southern West Siberia.Ecology.
Flood-plain and swampy meadows, bogs, damp birch kolki (insular forests).Use and economic value.
Forage plant of rather low quality.References:
Grossheim AA. 1939. Flora of Caucasus. 2nd ed. V.1. 402 p. (In Russian).Shelyag-Sosonko YuR., ed. Grasses of Ukraine. 1977. Kiev: Naukova Dumka. 518 p. (In Russian).
Kharkevich SS., ed. 1985. Vascular plants of the Soviet Far East. V.1. Leningrad: Nauka. 398 p. (In Russian).
Fedorov AA., ed. 1974. Flora of the European part of the USSR. V.1. Leningrad: Nauka. 404 p. (In Russian).
Rozhevits RYu., Shishkin BK., eds. 1934. Flora URSS. V.2. 778 p. (In Russian).
Malyshev LI., Peshkova GA., ed. 1990. Flora of Siberia. V.4. Poaceae (Gramineae). Novosibirsk: Nauka. 361 p. (In Russian).
Malyshev LI., Peshkova GA., ed. 1979. Flora of the Central Siberia. V.1. 536 p. (In Russian).
Tzvelev NN. 1976. Grasses of the Soviet Union. Leningrad: Nauka. 788 p. (In Russian).
Hulten E., Fries M. 1986. Atlas of North European vascular plants north of the Tropic of Cancer. V.1-3. Konigstein: Koeltz Scientific Books.