Northeast Wetland Flora
Field Office Guide to Plant Species
Agrostis canina L.
- Family: Grass (Gramineae)
- Flowering: June-July
- Field Marks: This bentgrass differs from all others in the genus by the presence of stolons, the nearly smooth panicle branches, the purplish to yellowish panicles, and the 1-flowered spikelets no more than 1/10 inch long.
- Habitat: Shores, old fields, pastures.
- Habit: Loosely tufted perennial from long, trailing stolons.
- Stems: Spreading to ascending, branched, smooth, up to 2 feet long.
- Leaves: Elongated, usually densely tufted at the nodes, the basal leaves rolled into a bristle-shaped blade, the stem leaves 2-4, flat, up to 1/10 inch wide; ligules up to 1/4 inch long.
- Flowers: Borne in spikelets, with numerous spikelets in a rather narrow panicle up to 6 inches long, the panicle yellowish to purplish, with smooth branchlets; spikelets 1-flowered, no more than 1/10 inch long.
- Glumes: Lanceolate, pointed at the tip, more or less the same size, smooth.
- Lemmas: Lanceolate, awned or awnless, a little shorter than the first glume, smooth.
- Sepals: 0.
- Petals: 0.
- Stamens: 3.
- Pistils: Ovary superior.
- Fruits: Grains ellipsoid, smooth, loosely enclosed in the lemmas.
- Notes: This species is introduced from Europe and is sometimes used for lawns. This family is called Poaceae by Gleason and Cronquist.
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