Native. Perennial. Propagates by seeds and by creeping root-stocks.

Time of bloom: August to September.

Seed-time: September to October.

Range: New Brunswick and Ontario to the Dakotas and southward to the Gulf of Mexico.

Habitat: Low ground meadows and pastures, woodlands, and banks of streams.

When growing along the sides of swiftly flowing streams, the strong, creeping, knotted, and scaly rootstocks of this grass are often of much service in binding the soil and preserving it from washing, but it is otherwise of very little value. If cut or grazed while very young, it makes good hay and forage; but it soon becomes hard, wiry, and innutritious, and cattle will not eat it.

Stems smooth, two to three feet high, often branching at the base, usually decumbent and taking root at the lower joints. Leaves four to six inches long, less than a quarter-inch wide, rough to the touch; on the branches they are much smaller and more crowded. Flowering panicles terminal on the culms and the many branches, two to six inches long, very slender and compact and usually partly enclosed in the upper sheaths.

Means Of Control

In fields and meadows, drainage and thorough cultivation of the ground are necessary in order to displace this grass.