Rice Cut Grass (Leersia oryzoides)
Leersia oryzoides

Deciduous Perennial Upright, Spreading in the Poaceae Family

Leersia oryzoides, commonly known as Rice Cutgrass, is a wetland grass native throughout nearly all of North America, where it's a common sight in marshes, swamps, wet ditches, and other low-lying, consistently moist-to-wet areas. It grows 2-5ft tall on upright stems topped with inconspicuous greenish flower panicles in late summer into fall. The "cutgrass" name is earned honestly: the leaf margins are lined with tiny, stiff, backward-pointing hairs sharp enough to cut unprotected skin, a trait worth knowing before handling the plant bare-handed. Rice Cutgrass spreads by long rhizomes into dense colonies over time and roots readily at the stem nodes -- useful for shoreline stabilization and naturalizing a wet area, but genuinely spreading rather than a tidy, fixed clump, and can turn weedy in disturbed wet ground if left unchecked. It provides real wildlife value: several butterfly and moth larvae feed on the foliage, and its seeds are eaten by waterfowl and marsh birds including Swamp Sparrow, Sora Rail, and various ducks.
Why Like

A true North American wetland native found nearly continent-wide, Rice Cutgrass earns its keep in a naturalized planting: it stabilizes muddy shorelines and pond edges with its spreading rhizomes, and its seeds feed Swamp Sparrows, Sora Rails, and ducks through fall and winter, while its foliage supports several native skipper and moth caterpillars. It's an easy way to add genuine habitat value to a rain garden or pond margin rather than just ornamental wetland texture.
 

Plant Data

Mature Size 24 - 60 inches tall. 24 - 36 inches wide.
Sun Exposure Partial Shade - Full Sun
Moisture Tolerance Medium - Wet
Zones 3a - 9b (Usually hardy to -40° F)
Tags Deciduous, Full Sun, Medium, Partial Shade, Partial Sun, Perennial, Wet
Bloom Period August to October
Flower Color Green
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Pricing and Availability History

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Past Availability
2025 : 06/08 - 10/04
2024 : 05/01 - 07/20
2023 : 05/04 - 09/30

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Field-Grown vs. Greenhouse-Grown Plants

Plants which are well-adapted to our local climate are most often field-grown (outside). Field-grown plants are generally cheaper and have the advantage of already somewhat acclimated to our cold winters, but that means they’re not artificially far along in the spring and tend to bloom at the normal time in our area.

Spring annuals and tender perennials are typically grown in Greenhouses so they can be ready and luxurious exactly when customers want them. Some perennials are also “forced” into early bloom in greenhouses. In May, there can be a very big difference between field-grown and greenhouse-grown plants of the same type. The latter typically look good right away (so they’re a great choice where that’s important), but we typically pay a premium for it.


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No Pricing or Availability Right Now

We order from a rotating cast of the best nurseries in the Great Lakes region. It looks like we've offered this plant in the past, but the nurseries we're working with this week don't appear to have it in stock at the moment.

Our goal is to bring as many plants together under "one roof" as possible, so we'll try hard to make it available again in the future!