Drooping Woodreed

Culms solitary or loosely tufted, 0.6–1.6 m tall, 2–3 mm in diam., smooth or scabrid below nodes, 7–9-noded. Leaf sheaths scabrid; leaf blades broadly linear, 15–30 cm, 10–15 mm wide, both surfaces and margin scabrid; ligule 3–6 mm. Panicle droop-ing, 15–40 cm; branches slender, 3–6 per node, up to 10 cm, ascending or spreading with spikelets in clusters along branchlets, scabrid. Spikelets 2.5–4 mm, green; glumes subequal, narrowly lanceolate, lower glume 1-veined, upper glume 1–3-veined; floret raised on 0.1–0.5 mm stipe; lemma oblong-lanceolate, 2.5–3.8 mm, 3(–5)-veined, scabrid; awnlet 0.2–1(–2) mm. Anthers 0.6–0.8 mm. Caryopsis ca. 2 mm. Fl. and fr. Jul–Sep. 2n = 28.

Damp places in woodlands, thickets, along riversides. Heilongjiang, Jilin [Japan, Korea, Mongolia, Russia; N Europe, North America].

Agrostis latifolia Treviranus ex Göppert, Beschr. Bot. Gaert. Breslau 82. 1830.

Cinna latifolia (Trev.) Griseb. in Ledeb. Fl. Ross. 4: 435. 1853
Agrostis latifolia Trev.; Gopp. Beschr. Bot. Gart. Breslau 82. 1830.
Cinna expansa Link, Hort. Berol. 2: 236. 1833. (Type from Western North America.)
Cinna pendula Trin. Mem. Acad. St.-Petersb. VI. 6 2 : 280. 1841. (Localities cited, Norway, Sitka.
Baikal.) Cinna arundinacea var. pendula A. Gray, Man. ed. 2. 545. 1856. (Based on Cinna pendula Trin.) Cinna pendula var. glomerula Scribn. Proc. Acad. Phila. 1884: 290. 1884. (Type from Washington,
Tweedy.) Cinna Bolanderi Scribn. Proc. Acad. Phila. 1884: 290. 1884. (Type from California, Bolander
6090.) Cinna pendula var. Bolanderi Vasey, Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 3: 57. 1892. (Based on C. Bolanderi
Scribn.) Cinna pendula var. mutica Vasey, Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 3 : 57. 1892. (Type from Oregon, Cusick.)
Culms erect or decumbent at base, scaberulous below the nodes, 3or 5-noded, 1-1 .5 meters tall; sheaths scaberulous; ligule nerved, scaberulous, acutish, lacerate, about 1 cm. long; blades scabrous, 10-20 cm. long, as much as 1 cm. or even 1.5 cm. wide; panicle usually green, oblong, loose, 15-40 cm. long, the axis glabrous below, scabrous above, the branches slender, rather distant, flexuous, fascicled, scabrous, naked below, spreading or drooping, the lower as much as 20 cm. long; spikelets 3.5-4 mm. long, acute; glumes scaberulous, the first 1-nerved, the second rather faintly 3-nerved; lemma faintly 3-nerved, a little shorter than the glumes, the awn as much as 1 mm. long, sometimes wanting; palea 2-nerved, the nerves very close together; prolongation of the rachilla minute.
Type locality: Europe.
Distribution: Moist woods. Newfoundland and Labrador to Alaska, and southward to Connecticut, in the mountains to North Carolina, to Michigan, Illinois, South Dakota, in the mountains to northern New Mexico, to Utah and central California; also in northern Eurasia.

Perennials, Aquatic, leaves emergent, Terrestrial, not aquatic, Rhizomes present, Rhizome short and compact, stems close, Stems nodes swollen or brittle, Stems erect or ascending, Stems caespitose, tufted, or clustered, Stems terete, round in cross section, or polygonal, Stem internodes hollow, Stems with inflorescence less than 1 m tall, Stems with inflorescence 1-2 m tall, Stems, culms, or scapes exceeding basal leaves, Leaves mostly cauline, Leaves conspicuously 2-ranked, distichous, Leaves sheathing at base, Leaf sheath mostly open, or loose, Leaf sheath smooth, glabrous, Leaf sheath and blade differentiated, Leaf blades linear, Leaf blades 2-10 mm wide, Leaf blades 1-2 cm wide, Leaf blades mostly flat, Leaf blades mostly glabrous, Leaf blades scabrous, roughened, or wrinkled, Ligule present, Ligule an unfringed eciliate membrane, Inflorescence terminal, Inflorescence an open panicle, openly paniculate, branches spreading, Inflorescence solitary, with 1 spike, fascicle, glomerule, head, or cluster per stem or culm, Inflorescence lax, widely spreading, branches drooping, pendulous, Inflorescence a panicle with narrowly racemose or spicate branches, Inflorescence branches more than 10 to numerous, Flowers bisexual, Spikelets pedicellate, Spikelets laterally compressed, Spikelet less than 3 mm wide, Spikelets with 1 fertile floret, Spikelets solitary at rachis nodes, Spikelets all alike and fertille, Spikelets bisexual, Spikelets disarticulating below the glumes, Rachilla or pedicel glabrous, Glumes present, empty bracts, Glumes 2 clearly present, Glumes equal or subequal, Glumes equal to or longer than adjacent lemma, Glumes keeled or winged, Glumes 1 nerved, Glumes 3 nerved, Lemma similar in texture to glumes, Lemma coriaceous, firmer or thicker in texture than the glumes, Lemma 3 nerved, Lemma 5-7 nerved, Lemma glabrous, Lemma apex acute or acuminate, Lemma awnless, Lemma mucronate, very shortly beaked or awned, less than 1-2 mm, Lemma with 1 awn, Lemma awn less than 1 cm long, Lemma awned from tip, Lemma awns straight or curved to base, Lemma margins thin, lying flat, Lemma straight, Palea present, well developed, Palea membranous, hyaline, Palea shorter than lemma, Palea 2 nerved or 2 keeled, Stamens 1, Styles 2-fid, deeply 2-branched, Stigmas 2, Fruit - caryopsis.

Cinna latifolia is a species of grass known by the common name drooping woodreed. It is a native bunchgrass to the Northern Hemisphere, where it has a circumboreal distribution. It grows in moist habitat, such as forest understory and riverbanks. It reaches nearly two meters in maximum height. The inflorescence is an open array of spikelets generally green to purple-tinted in color. It flowers in late summer and fall.