E-Flora BC: Electronic Atlas of the Flora of British Columbia

Agrostis mertensii Trin.
northern bentgrass
Poaceae (Grass family)

Introduction to Vascular Plants

© Ryan Batten  Email the photographer   (Photo ID #52766)

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Distribution of Agrostis mertensii
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Species Information

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General:
Perennial, tufted grass from fibrous roots, some shoots non-flowering; stems 10-40 cm tall.
Leaves:
Sheaths smooth; blades 2.5-13 cm long, 1-3 mm wide, flat; ligules 1.5-3 mm long.
Flowers:
Inflorescence broadly egg-shaped to lanceolate, usually open, loose or more or less constricted, 3-10 cm long, at least twice as long as wide, the branches more or less stiff, ascending or appressed, the lower branches to 4 cm long, branching above the middle, the spikelets sparse, borne mostly above the midpoints; spikelets usually 1.8-3 mm long; glumes 2.5-3.8 mm long; lemmas 1.6-2.6 mm long, the awns attached just below the middle from the back, 3-4 mm long, bent, the callus hairs to 0.2 mm long; paleas absent; anthers 0.5-0.8 mm long.

Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

Habitat / Range

Mesic to dry meadows, streambanks, cliffs and scree slopes in the lowland to alpine zones; infrequent throughout BC; circumboreal, N to AK, YT and NT, E to NF and S to SC, TN, CO, UT and WA; Greenland, N Eurasia.

Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

Ecology

Ecological Framework for Agrostis mertensii

The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from
original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range.
(Updated August, 2013)

Site Information
Value / Class

Minimum

Average

Maximum

Elevation (metres) 469 868 1260
Slope Gradient (%) 0 23 60
Aspect (degrees)
[0 - N; 90 - E; 180 - S; 270 - W]
90 187 300
Soil Moisture Regime (SMR)
[0 - very xeric; 4 - mesic;
8 - hydric]
0 3 5
Modal Nutrient Regime
Class
B
Number of field plots
 species was recorded in:
10
Modal BEC Zone Class
BWBS
All BEC Zones (# of stations/zone) species was recorded in: BWBS(4), ICH(1), IDF(1), MS(3)

Climate

The climate type for this species, as reported in the: "British Columbia plant species codes and selected attributes. Version 6 Database" (Meidinger et al. 2008), is not evaluated, unknown or variable.

Synonyms and Alternate Names

Agrostis bakeri Rydb.
Agrostis borealis Hartm.
Agrostis borealis var. americana (Scribn.) Fernald
Agrostis borealis var. paludosa (Scribn.) Fernald
Agrostis idahoensis var. bakeri (Rydb.) W.A. Weber
Agrostis mertensii subsp. borealis (Hartman) Tzvelev
Agrostis rupestris auct. non All.

Taxonomic and Nomenclatural Links

Additional Photo Sources

General References