| Author | (L.) Swartz | |
| Distribution | Throughout the state, including the Outer Banks.
N.S. to B.C., south to FL and CA; Eurasia. | |
| Abundance | Frequent to common. Where found, plants may be abundant. | |
| Habitat | Various wetlands, including freshwater marshes, interdune marshes, river banks and shores, swamp forests and openings, clearcuts, roadside ditches. |
| Phenology | Flowering and fruiting July-October. | |
| Identification | The plants generally are 2-3 feet tall, with a terminal inflorescence. The spikelets are pale green, overlapping, half-moon shaped, flattened, and bristly on the margins, giving them a resemblance to cultivated rice. All cutgrasses have scabrous leaf margins, this one particularly so; thus, it is not a good idea to wade through a stand of it in shorts. This cutgrass has the lower branches of the inflorescence whorled or nearly so; in the others the lower branches are alternate or rarely opposite. | |
| Taxonomic Comments | None
| |
| Other Common Name(s) | None | |
| State Rank | S5 | |
| Global Rank | G5 | |
| State Status | | |
| US Status | | |
| USACE-agcp | OBL link |
| USACE-emp | OBL link |
