Manna Grass

Manna Grass 

any plant of the genus Glyceria of the family Gramineae. They are perennial or annual grasses with closed leaf sheaths. The inflorescence is a contracted or open panicle, and the spikelets are tri- or many-flowered. There are about 40 species, distributed mainly in the temperate and cold zones of the northern hemisphere and in South America and Australia. In the USSR there are about 15 species, growing in abundantly moist silty areas, river floodplains, banks of bodies of water, and grassy marshes. Floating manna grass (G. fluitans) is a pasture and hay plant whose seeds were sometimes used as food under the name of manna (hence the name); it serves as forage for poultry and fish. The manna grass G. maxima (formerly G. aquaticd) is used in the young state as forage for livestock; when affected with smut, it is poisonous in the fresh state but harmless as hay.