Water mannagrass

Description

Glyceria fluitans (syns Festuca fluitans, Poa fluitans, Panicularia fluitans), known as floating sweet-grass and water mannagrass, is a species of perennial grass in the genus Glyceria native to Europe, the Mediterranean region and Western Asia and occurring in wet areas such as ditches, riverbanks and ponds. It has a creeping rootstock, a thick stem which rises to one metre. The leaves are long, narrow and pale green, rough on both sides, often folded at the keel which lies on the surface of the water. The species epithet fluitans is Latin for "floating". Glyceria fluitans is a component of purple moor grass and rush pastures, a type of Biodiversity Action Plan habitat in the UK. This habitat occurs on poorly drained neutral and acidic soils of the lowlands and upland fringe. It is found in the South West of England, especially in Devon. At the Great Fen, researchers are running trials with Glyceria fluitans in order to assess its physical and financial viability as a crop in wet farming systems.Glyceria fluitans was chosen because it has been consumed by humans for a long time and because of its tolerance to a wide range of growing conditions.This tolerance originates from the fact that Glyceria fluitans is to some extent self-sterile and therefore outbreeding, which allows for adaptation.