Bent Grass (Agrostis)

By Bruce Homer-Smith

Agrostis is from the Greek word for pasture. Bent grasses are commonly used for forage and lawns. They’re in the Oat Tribe.

What to look for:

· Bent Grasses grow to 3 feet tall.

· Spikelets are small, flattened, and have one floret.

· Glumes are long enough to hide the floret

Other features (Perennial/annual, spike-like/branched, bunch/not, awns/not) are not shared across the genus, so to get to species you’ll have to carefully inspect the spikelets or learn the plants from a teacher in the field.

Here are some examples:

Oregon Bentgrass (Agrostis oregonensis) Photo by Keir Morse	Spike Bentgrass(Agrostis exarata) Photo by Steve Matson
Creeping Bentgrass (Agrostis gigantea) Photo by Steve Matson	Mountain Bentgrass (Agrostis variabilis) Photo by Steve Matson

California has 22 species of Agrostis.

Corrections/Comments: bruce@PlantID.net Copyright: https://PlantID.net/Contributors.aspx