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Rice cutgrass

Leersia oryzoides

Also called Cut-grass, Rice cut grass, Cutgrass, Ricegrass

Rice cutgrass
Photo: Robert H. Mohlenbrock, Public domain

Rice cutgrass is a rhizomatous perennial grass of wet places, growing 1 to 1.5 m tall, with rough leaves that can cut skin. It thrives in moist or waterlogged soil and is useful for erosion control and wetland restoration.

Family
Poaceae (Grass family)
Grows as
Grass, Perennial
Light
Part shade, Full sun
Water
Keep the soil constantly wet or shallowly flooded.
Soil
Moist, fertile mud, clay or loam, including pond and stream margins.
Temperature
Hardy in cold temperate climates; survives winter cold in its native range.
How easy
Easy
Safety
Not known to be toxic
Native range
Temp. Northern Hemisphere to NE. Mexico
Climate
temperate

About

Leersia oryzoides is a species of grass known by the common name rice cutgrass or just cut-grass. It is a widespread grass native to Europe, Asia, and North America and present in many other regions, such as Australia, as an introduced species. This is a rhizomatous perennial grass growing to a maximum height between 1 and 1.5 meters. The leaves are up to about 28 centimeters long and have very rough, minutely toothed edges which are sharp enough to cut skin. The inflorescence is a loose, open array of wavy, hairlike branches bearing rows of spikelets. Each spikelet is a flat fruit with a rough, bristly lemma without an awn, and no glumes. Some of the spikelet branches develop within the sheaths of the leaves and are cleistogamous. This grass is sometimes used for erosion control and restoring wetlands.

Other Leersia plants

Southern cutgrass · Cutgrass

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Leersia oryzoides by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.

The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.

Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.

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