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

Agrostis stolonifera L.
creeping bentgrass
Poaceae (Grass family)

Introduction to Vascular Plants

Distribution of Agrostis stolonifera
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Species Information

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Illustration Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

General:
Perennial, creeping grass from rhizomes and leafy stolons rooting at the nodes, vigorously spreading, the stolons 5-150 cm long; stems 8-100 cm tall.

Leaves:
Sheaths smooth; blades 2-10 cm long, 2-8 mm wide, flat; ligules 2-5 mm long.

Flowers:
Inflorescence narrowly egg-shaped, more or less constricted, dense, the lower branches 2-6 cm long, appressed to the axis except briefly during flowering; spikelets densely clustered; glumes 1.6-3 mm long; lemmas 1.4-2 mm long, awnless except rarely with short, straight awns from near the tips, the callus hairs sparse, to 0.5 mm long; paleas 0.7-1.4 mm long, at least 1/2 as long as the lemmas; anthers 0.9-1.4 mm long.

Notes:
See comments under A. gigantea.

Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

USDA Species Characteristics

Flower Colour:
Purple

Blooming Period:
Mid Summer

Fruit/Seed characteristics:
Colour: Brown
Present over the Summer

Source: The USDA

Habitat / Range

Mesic to wet lawns, fields, ditches, pond margins, lakeshores and salt marshes in the lowland to montane zones; common throughout BC; introduced from Europe.

Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

Ecology

Ecological Framework for Agrostis stolonifera

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
Site Information	Minimum	Average	Maximum
Elevation (metres)	0	616	1850
Slope Gradient (%)	0	9	72
Aspect (degrees) [0 - N; 90 - E; 180 - S; 270 - W]	5	209	360
Soil Moisture Regime (SMR) [0 - very xeric; 4 - mesic; 8 - hydric]	2	5	8
Modal Nutrient Regime Class	D
Number of field plots species was recorded in:	129
Modal BEC Zone Class	CDF
All BEC Zones (# of stations/zone) species was recorded in:	BG(7), BWBS(1), CDF(26), CWH(16), ESSF(4), ICH(6), IDF(11), MH(2), MS(3), PP(2), SBS(3)
Source: Klinkenberg 2020

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.

Status Information

Origin Status	Provincial Status	BC List (Red Blue List)	COSEWIC
Exotic	SNA	Exotic	Not Listed

BC Ministry of Environment: BC Species and Ecosystems Explorer, the authoritative source for conservation information in British Columbia.

Synonyms and Alternate Names

Agrostis alba var. palustris (Huds.) Pers.
Agrostis alba var. stolonifera (L.) Sm.
Agrostis maritima Lam.
Agrostis palustris Huds.
Agrostis stolonifera var. compacta Hartm.
Agrostis stolonifera var. palustris (Huds.) Farw.

Taxonomic and Nomenclatural Links

Genetic information (NCBI Taxonomy Database)
International Plant Names Index
Taxonomic Information from the World Flora Online
Integrated Taxonomic Information System

Additional Range and Status Information Links

Burke Museum of Natural History (Washington State records)
CalFlora
Consortium of Pacific Northwest Herbaria records
Jepson Interchange
NatureServe Explorer
USDA

Additional Photo Sources

Images From CalPhoto
UT Austin's Native Plant Database
Google Image Search
Flickr Image Search

General References

Google Scholar Search
Family References
General Botanical References for BC

Recommended citation: Author, Date. Page title. In Klinkenberg, Brian. (Editor) 2020. E-Flora BC: Electronic Atlas of the Plants of British Columbia [eflora.bc.ca]. Lab for Advanced Spatial Analysis, Department of Geography, University of British Columbia, Vancouver. [Accessed: 2024-05-09 11:30:04 PM ]

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