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Torreyochloa pallida

(Torr.) Church

Pale Manna Grass

G5Secure Found in 4 roadless areas NatureServe Explorer →
G5SecureGlobal Rank
Least concernIUCN
UnknownThreat Impact
Identity
Unique IDELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.157102
Element CodePMPOA61030
Record TypeSPECIES
ClassificationSpecies
Classification StatusStandard
Name CategoryVascular Plant
IUCNLeast concern
Endemicoccurs (regularly, as a native taxon) in multiple nations
KingdomPlantae
PhylumAnthophyta
ClassMonocotyledoneae
OrderCyperales
FamilyPoaceae
GenusTorreyochloa
Synonyms
Glyceria pallida(Torr.) Trin.Puccinellia pallida(Torr.) Clausen
Other Common Names
Glycérie pâle (FR) Pale False Mannagrass (EN) pale false mannagrass (EN)
Concept Reference
Kartesz, J.T. 1994. A synonymized checklist of the vascular flora of the United States, Canada, and Greenland. 2nd edition. 2 vols. Timber Press, Portland, OR.
Conservation Status
Rank Method Rank calculation - Biotics v2
Review Date2025-01-29
Change Date2005-03-02
Edition Date2025-01-29
Edition AuthorsM.E. Stover, TNC-HO, rev. N. Ventrella (2025)
Threat ImpactUnknown
Range Extent>2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles)
Number of Occurrences> 300
Rank Reasons
Torreyochloa pallida is a perennial grass occurring in swamps, bogs, marshes, and at the margins of lakes, ponds, and streams of North America, and potentially also in Mexico and Asia. It is estimated that there are over 700 occurrences rangewide, which are threatened by land-use conversion, habitat fragmentation, sedimentation, and forest management practices. Little is known about threats or trends, but with a large range extent, a high number of occurrences, abundant habitat, broad habitat preferences, and no obvious intrinsic vulnerabilities, Torreyochloa pallida is considered secure.
Range Extent Comments
Torreyochloa pallida occurs in North America (FNA 2007, Weakley and the Southeastern Flora Team 2024), and potentially also found in Mexico and Asia (POWO 2025), though it is not included on the checklist of native vascular plants of Mexico (Villasenor 2016). In North America, it occurs from Newfoundland and Labrador to Alaska, south in the east to Georgia and Missouri, and in the west to New Mexico and California (FNA 2007). Range extent was estimated using herbarium specimens, photo-based observations, and NatureServe Network occurrence data collected between 1994 and 2025 (GBIF 2025, iNaturalist 2025, NatureServe 2025, SEINet 2025). See individual entries for distribution details about the three varieties.
Occurrences Comments
By applying a 1 km separation distance to herbarium specimens, photo-based observations, and NatureServe Network occurrence data documented between 1994 and 2025, it is estimated that there are more than 700 occurrences rangewide (GBIF 2025, iNaturalist 2025, NatureServe 2025, SEINet 2025).
Threat Impact Comments
Torreyochloa pallida is threatened by land-use conversion, habitat fragmentation, sedimentation, and to a lesser extent by forest management practices (Southern Appalachian Species Viability Project 2002).
Ecology & Habitat

Description

Pale green, slender, wetland grass.

Diagnostic Characteristics

Genus distinguished from Glyceria as follows: basic chromosome number of 7 (vs. 10); lemma 5-nerved (vs. 7-nerved); upper glume 3-nerved (vs. 1-nerved); leaf sheaths open (vs. closed, rupturing later); rhizomes lacking [but present in the western var. pauciflora] (vs. rhizomes present). Genus distinguished from Puccinellia as follows: chromosomes much larger in Torreyochloa than in Puccinellia; nerves of lemma raised, equally prominent, more or less equally spaced (vs. not prominent or not equally so, and not equaly spaced in Puccinellia). (Dore and McNeill 1980). Over most of the continent, this is the only species in the genus. In the west, var. pauciflora may be distinguished from T. erecta as follows: inflorescence ovate to elliptic or obovate in outline (vs. linear to narrowly ellipitic), 1-6 x width (vs. 5-15 x width), 1-12 cm wide (vs. less than 1cm wide); leaf blade 3.5-17.5 mm wide (vs. 3.5-7 mm wide) (Hickman 1993). Panicles of T. pallida tend to be lax and open; those of T. erecta are narrow with ascending branches (Hitchcock 1951). T. californica, maintained as a separate species by Kartesz, is sometimes considered to be part of T. pallida as well: it is found at higher elevations and is generally smaller, with compact, ovate to obovate panicles, ca. 6-10 mm long and ca. 2-3 times as long as wide, and leaves to 5 mm wide (Davis 1991, Munz 1959).

Habitat

Torreyochloa pallida occurs in bogs, marshy shores of ponds, lakes, streams, swamps, pools, sloughs, cattail marshes, temporary pools, at the margins of streams and lakes, and wet hollows in woods (Deam 1940, Cronquist 1977, Hulten 1968, Radford et al. 1968, Godfrey and Wooten 1981, Hough 1983, Roland & Smith 1983, Voss 1985).
Terrestrial Habitats
Forest/Woodland
Palustrine Habitats
HERBACEOUS WETLANDFORESTED WETLANDBog/fenRiparian
Other Nations (2)
CanadaN5
ProvinceRankNative
Nova ScotiaS5Yes
LabradorS1Yes
AlbertaS1Yes
New BrunswickS5Yes
QuebecSNRYes
Island of NewfoundlandS2Yes
Prince Edward IslandS4Yes
SaskatchewanS3Yes
Yukon TerritorySHYes
British ColumbiaS5Yes
ManitobaS2Yes
OntarioS4Yes
United StatesN5
ProvinceRankNative
AlaskaSNRYes
OhioSNRYes
DelawareSNRYes
MontanaS4Yes
South DakotaSNRYes
WyomingS3Yes
Rhode IslandSNRYes
MassachusettsSNRYes
UtahSNRYes
TennesseeS1Yes
MinnesotaS3Yes
ArizonaSNRYes
NevadaS3Yes
West VirginiaS2Yes
MarylandS3Yes
IdahoSNRYes
IndianaSNRYes
New HampshireSNRYes
MichiganSNRYes
WisconsinSNRYes
North CarolinaS1Yes
New JerseySNRYes
WashingtonSNRYes
MissouriSNRYes
ConnecticutSNRYes
MaineSNRYes
KentuckySHYes
GeorgiaS1Yes
CaliforniaSNRYes
IllinoisS1Yes
VirginiaS4Yes
ColoradoS3Yes
New YorkSNRYes
New MexicoSNRYes
South CarolinaS1Yes
OregonSNRYes
PennsylvaniaSNRYes
VermontS3Yes
Threat Assessments
ThreatScopeSeverityTiming
1 - Residential & commercial developmentUnknownUnknownUnknown
2 - Agriculture & aquacultureUnknownUnknownUnknown
7 - Natural system modificationsUnknownUnknownUnknown
9 - PollutionUnknownUnknownUnknown
9.3 - Agricultural & forestry effluentsUnknownUnknownUnknown
9.3.2 - Soil erosion, sedimentationUnknownUnknownUnknown

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Plant Characteristics
DurationPERENNIAL
Economic Value (Genus)No
Roadless Areas (4)
California (1)
AreaForestAcres
Black CinderLassen National Forest239
Oregon (1)
AreaForestAcres
Maiden PeakWillamette National Forest9,627
Wyoming (2)
AreaForestAcres
Cloud Peak ContiguousBighorn National Forest113,757
Encampment River AdditionMedicine Bow-Routt National Forest4,996
References (23)
  1. Cronquist, A., A.H. Holmgren, N.H. Holmgren, J.L. Reveal, and P.K. Holmgren. 1977. Intermountain flora: vascular plants of the intermountain West, U.S.A. Vol. Six. Monocotyledons. Columbia Univ. Press, New York. 584 pp.
  2. Davis, J. I. 1991. A note on North American <i>Torreyochloa </i>(Poaceae), including a new combination. Phytologia 70(5):361-365.
  3. Deam, C. C. 1940. Flora of Indiana. Division of Forestry, Dept. of Conservation, Indianapolis, Indiana. 1236 pp.
  4. Dore, W.G., and J. McNeill. 1980. Grasses of Ontario. Research Branch, Agriculture Cananda, Ottawa. 566 pp.
  5. Fernald, M. L. 1950. Gray's manual of botany. 8th edition. Corrected printing (1970). D. Van Nostrand Company, New York. 1632 pp.
  6. Flora of North America Editorial Committee, editors. 2007a. Flora of North America, north of Mexico. Volume 24. Magnoliophyta: Commelinidae (in part): Poaceace, part 1. Oxford University Press, New York. 911 pp.
  7. Gleason, H.A. 1952. The new Britton and Brown illustrated flora of the northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. 3 volumes. Hafner Press, New York. 1732 pp.
  8. Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). 2025. Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) data portal. Online. Available: https://www.gbif.org/ (accessed 2025).
  9. Godfrey, R.K., and J.W. Wooten. 1981. Aquatic and wetland plants of southeastern United States: Dicotyledons. Univ. Georgia Press, Athens. 933 pp.
  10. Hickman, J. C., ed. 1993. The Jepson manual: Higher plants of California. University of California Press, Berkeley, CA. 1400 pp.
  11. Hitchcock, A.S. 1951. Manual of the grasses of the United States. 2nd edition revised by Agnes Chase. [Reprinted, 1971, in 2 vols., by Dover Publications, Incorporated, New York.]
  12. Hough, M.Y. 1983. New Jersey wild plants. Harmony Press, Harmony, NJ. 414 pp.
  13. Hulten, E. 1968. Flora of Alaska and neighboring territories. Stanford Univ. Press, Palo Alto, CA. 1008 pp.
  14. iNaturalist. 2025. Online. Available: https://www.inaturalist.org (accessed 2025).
  15. Kartesz, J.T. 1994. A synonymized checklist of the vascular flora of the United States, Canada, and Greenland. 2nd edition. 2 vols. Timber Press, Portland, OR.
  16. Munz, P.A., with D.D. Keck. 1959. A California flora. Univ. California Press, Berkeley. 1681 pp.
  17. NatureServe. 2025. NatureServe Network Biodiversity Location Data. NatureServe, Arlington, Virginia.
  18. Plants of the World Online (POWO). 2025. Plants of the World Online. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Online. Available: https://powo.science.kew.org/ (accessed 2025).
  19. Roland, A.E., and E.C. Smith. 1983. The flora of Nova Scotia: Volumes 1 and 2. Nova Scotia Museum, Halifax, NS, Canada. 746 pp.
  20. Southern Appalachian Species Viability Project. 2002. A partnership between the U.S. Forest Service-Region 8, Natural Heritage Programs in the Southeast, NatureServe, and independent scientists to develop and review data on 1300+ regionally and locally rare species in the Southern Appalachian and Alabama region. Database (Access 97) provided to the U.S. Forest Service by NatureServe, Durham, North Carolina.
  21. Southwest Environmental Information Network (SEINet). 2025. Collections Databases. Online. Available: https://swbiodiversity.org/seinet/collections/index.php (accessed 2025).
  22. Villaseñor, J.L. 2016. Checklist of the native vascular plants of Mexico. Revista Mexicana de Biodiversidad 87: 559-902.
  23. Voss, E.G. 1972. Michigan flora: A guide to the identification and occurrence of the native and naturalized seed-plants of the state. Part I. Gymnosperms and monocots. Cranbrook Institute of Science and Univ. Michigan Herbarium. Ann Arbor. 488 pp.