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Agrostis blasdalei

(Blasdale Bentgrass)

Overview

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Threatened
Threat status

Common Names

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Common Names in English:

Blasdale Bentgrass, Cliff Bentgrass, Marin Bentgrass

Description

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Family Poaceae

Annual or perennial herbs, or tall woody bamboos . Flowering stems (culms ) jointed , internodes hollow or solid; branches arising singly from nodes and subtended by a leaf sheath and 2-keeled prophyll, often fascicled in bamboos. Leaves arranged alternately in 2 ranks , differentiated into sheath, blade , and an adaxial erect appendage at sheath/blade junction (ligule) ; leaf sheath surrounding and supporting culm-internode, split to base or infrequently tubular with partially or completely fused margins , modified with reduced blade in bamboos (culm sheaths) ; leaf blades divergent, usually long, narrow and flat, but varying from inrolled and filiform to ovate , veins parallel, sometimes with cross-connecting veinlets (especially in bamboos) ; ligule membranous or a line of hairs . Inflorescence terminal or axillary , an open, contracted , or spikelike panicle, or composed of lax to spikelike racemes arranged along an elongate central axis, or digitate, paired , or occasionally solitary; axillary inflorescences often many, subtended by spatheoles (specialized bladeless leaf sheaths) and gathered into a leafy compound panicle; spikelets often aggregated into complex clusters in bamboos. Spikelets composed of distichous bracts arranged along a slender axis (rachilla) ; typically 2 lowest bracts (glumes ) empty, subtending 1 to many florets ; glumes often poorly differentiated from accompanying bracts in bamboos. Florets composed of 2 opposing bracts enclosing a single small flower, outer bract (lemma) clasping the more delicate, usually 2-keeled inner bract (palea) ; base of floret often with thickened prolongation articulated with rachilla (callus) ; lemma often with apical or dorsal bristle (awn ), glumes also sometimes awned . Flowers bisexual or unisexual ; lodicules (small scales representing perianth) 2, rarely 3 or absent, 3 to many in bamboos, hyaline or fleshy ; stamens 3 rarely 1, 2, 6, or more in some bamboos, hypogynous, filaments capillary , anthers versatile; ovary 1-celled, styles (1 or) 2(rarely 3), free or united at base, topped by feathery stigmas, exserted from sides or apex of floret. Fruit normally a dry indehiscent caryopsis with thin pericarp firmly adherent to seed, pericarp rarely free, fleshy in some bamboos; embryo small or large; hilum punctate to linear .

About 700 genera and 11,000 species: widely distributed in all regions of the world.[1]

Genus Agrostis

Annuals or perennials , tufted or sometimes with rhizomes or stolons. Leaf blades linear to filiform or setaceous , flat or rolled; ligule membranous. Inflorescence a panicle, open to contracted or spikelike. Spikelets with 1 floret, small, often gaping , without rachilla extension ; rachilla disarticulating above glumes ; glumes persistent , longer than floret, subequal or lower a little longer, membranous, 1-veined, apex subacute to acuminate; floret callus glabrous or shortly pilose ; lemma oblong to elliptic , thinner than glumes, often hyaline , 5-veined, rounded on back, glabrous or hairy , lateral veins sometimes excurrent, awnless or awned from back, apex truncate or toothed ; awn usually geniculate , sometimes weakly so or straight when short; palea shorter than lemma, sometimes very small. Stamens 3. Caryopsis oblong, sulcate on ventral side.

About 200 species:temperate and cold regions of the N hemisphere, also on tropical mountains; 25 species (eight endemic) in China.

The genus includes some good fodder and lawn plants .

Some species are superficially very similar, and correct identification depends on careful observation of spikelet details. It is also important to collect the basal parts to show the presence or absence of rhizomes and stolons. When the palea is long it is normally obvious, but small paleas usually adhere to the mature caryopsis and may appear to be absent. The presence or absence of awns is useful for identification, but awned species may have awnless variants , and vice versa, and the position of the awn on the lemma back can also be rather variable.[2]

Physical Description

Habit: Graminoid

Flowers: Bloom Period: n/a • Flower Color: inconspicuous, none

Habitat

Typically found at an altitude of 0 to 772 meters (0 to 2,533 feet).[3]

Biology

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Reproduction

Duration: Perennial

Growth

Sunlight: Sun Exposure: Full Sun .

Temperature: Cold Hardiness: 7a, 7b, 8a, 8b, 9a, 9b, 10a, 10b. (map)

Taxonomy

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Unambiguous Synonyms

  1. Agrostis blasdalei var. marinensis Crampton
  2. Agrostis breviculmis auct. non A. S. Hitchc.

Notes

Publishing author : Hitchc. Publication : U.S.D.A. Bur. Pl. Industr. Bull . 68: 36, pl. 18 1905 Basionym author: (J.Presl) Name Status: Accepted Name . Latest taxonomic scrutiny: 15-Mar-2000

Similar Species

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Members of the genus Agrostis

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 1066 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus. Here are just 100 of them:

A. abakanensis · A. aberrans · A. abietorum · A. abnormis · A. abyssinica · A. actinoclada · A. aculeata · A. acutiflora · A. acutiglumis · A. adamsonii · A. adscendens · A. aemula · A. aemula var. aemula · A. aemula var. setifolia · A. aenea · A. aequalis · A. aequata · A. aequivalvis (Northern Bent Grass) · A. affinis · A. africana · A. agrostidiformis · A. agrostiflora · A. airaeformis · A. airiformis · A. airoides · A. airoides var. flaccidifolia · A. alascana (Alaska Bentgrass) · A. alaskana · A. alaskana var. breviflora · A. alba · A. alba scabrida · A. alba stolonifera · A. alba var. alba · A. alba var. aristata · A. alba var. decumbens · A. alba var. densiflora · A. alba var. dispar · A. alba var. major · A. alba var. stricta · A. alba var. sylvatica · A. alba var. vulgaris · A. albicans · A. albida · A. albimontana · A. algida · A. alopecuroides · A. alpestris · A. alpicola · A. alpina · A. alpina subsp. minor · A. altissima · A. altissima var. laxa · A. amaicensis · A. ambatoensis · A. ambigua · A. amomala · A. ampla · A. amplax · A. anadyrensis · A. anatolica · A. andicola · A. andina · A. anemagrostis · A. anemagrostoides · A. angrenica · A. angusthum · A. anomala · A. antarctica · A. antartica · A. antoniana · A. apetala · A. aphanes · A. aquatica · A. arachnoidea · A. arachnoides · A. araucana · A. arcta · A. arenaria · A. arenosa · A. argentea · A. arisan-montana · A. aristata · A. aristiglumis · A. aristulata · A. aristulifera · A. arrecta · A. articulata · A. arundinacea · A. arvensis · A. ascendens · A. aspera · A. asperifolia · A. asperigluma · A. asperula · A. atlantica · A. atrata · A. atropurpurea · A. atroviolacea · A. atrovirens · A. attenuata

More Info

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Further Reading

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Notes

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Contributors

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal February 28, 2008:

Identifiers

Footnotes

  1. Shou-liang Chen, De-Zhu Li, Guanghua Zhu, Zhenlan Wu, Sheng-lian Lu, Liang Liu, Zheng-ping Wang, Bi-xing Sun, Zheng-de Zhu, Nianhe Xia, Liang-zhi Jia, Zhenhua Guo, Wenli Chen, Xiang Chen, Yang Guangyao, Sylvia M. Phillips, Chris Stapleton, Robert J. Soreng, Susan G. Aiken, Nikolai N. Tzvelev, Paul M. Peterson, Stephen A. Renvoize, Marina V. Olonova & Klaus Ammann "Poaceae". in Flora of China Vol. 22. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  2. Sheng-lian Lu & Sylvia M. Phillips "Agrostis". in Flora of China Vol. 22 Page 317, 340, 348, 349, 351, 353, 358, 359, 361. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  3. Mean = 104.240 meters (341.995 feet), Standard Deviation = 363.680 based on 17 observations. Altitude information for each observation from British Oceanographic Data Centre. [back]
Last Revised: 7/2/2009