Aira caryophyllea L.
silver hairgrass
Poaceae (Grass family)
Introduction to Vascular Plants
silver hairgrass
Poaceae (Grass family)
Introduction to Vascular Plants
Species Information
General:
Annual, tufted grass from fibrous roots; stems 1 to several, slender, delicate, hollow, smooth or short-hairy below the nodes, 5-30 cm tall.
Leaves:
Sheaths open; blades 4-15 cm long, 0.3-0.7 mm wide, threadlike, in-rolled; ligules 1.5-3.5 mm long, blunt, minutely rough to short-hairy, more or less irregular and jagged.
Flowers:
Inflorescence an open panicle, 2-6 cm long and nearly as wide; spikelet stalks longer than spikelets; glumes 2.5-2.8 (3) mm long; lemmas 2-2.3 mm long, awned, the awns 2.5-3.5 mm long; anthers about 0.3 mm long.
Illustration
If more than one illustration is available for a species (e.g., separate illustrations were provided for two subspecies) then links to the separate images will be provided below. Note that individual subspecies or varietal illustrations are not always available.
Illustration Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia
Ecology
Ecological Framework for Aira caryophyllea
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)
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 |
||
|
Avg |
Min |
Max |
|
| Elevation
(metres) |
171 | 15 | 382 |
| Slope
Gradient (%) |
38 | 0 | 210 |
|
Aspect (degrees) |
177 | 19 | 280 |
| Soil
Moisture Regime (SMR) [0 - very xeric; 4 - mesic; 8 - hydric] |
1 | 0 | 3 |
| Modal
Nutrient Regime
Class |
C | ||
| #
of field plots species was recorded in: |
104 | ||
| Modal
BEC Zone Class |
CDF | ||
|
All BEC Zones (# of stations/zone) species was recorded in |
CDF(16), CWH(4), IDF(1) | ||
|
Source:
Klinkenberg 2013
|
|||
Habitat and Range
Vernally moist to dry, gravelly or rocky, open sites; common on S Vancouver Island, less frequent in the Gulf Islands and lower mainland, rare in the Queen Charlotte Islands; introduced from Europe.Status Information
Synonyms
Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Aira capillaris Host, non Savi
Aira caryophyllea var. capillaris (Host) Mutel
Aira elegans subsp. ambigua (Arcang.) Holub
Aira elegantissima Schur
Aspris capillaris (Host) Hitchc.