Agrostis
Encyclopedia
Agrostis is a genus of over 100 species belonging to the grass family Poaceae
, commonly referred to as the bent grasses. Among this group are some of the main traditional lawn grasses.
grass. This is a desirable grass for golf
course tees, fairways and greens.
Bentgrass is used in turf applications for its numerous advantages: it can be mowed to a very short length without damage, it can handle a great amount of foot traffic, it has a shallow root system that is thick and dense allowing it to be seeded and grow rather easily, and it has a pleasing, deep green appearance. The name "bent" refers to the shallow roots, which bend just below the surface of the soil to propagate laterally.
) is the most commonly used species of Agrostis. Historically, it was often called Orcheston
long grass, after a village on Salisbury Plain
. It is cultivated almost exclusively on golf courses, especially on putting greens. Creeping Bent aggressively produces horizontal stems, called stolons, that run along the soil's surface. These allow Creeping Bent to form dense stands under conducive conditions and outcompete bunch-type grass and broadleaf weeds. As such, if infested in a home lawn, it can become a troublesome weed problem. The leaves of the bentgrass are long and slender.
) was brought to America from Europe. This was the type of grass that was used on the lawns of most estates. It is the tallest of the bents with very fine texture and like most bent grasses grows very dense. Although this species has been used on golf courses and sporting fields it is better suited for lawns. Colonial Bent is fairly easy to grow from seeds and fertilization of the lawn is not as intense. This grass also takes longer to establish than Creeping Bent. However it does not require the intense maintenance.
) gets it name for the velvet appearance that this grass produces. It has the finest texture of all the bent grasses. This grass was used in Europe for estate lawns and golf courses because it could be cut so short. This bent grass requires more upkeep and maintenance than Creeping Bent and because of this has been overlooked as a practical turf for current golf courses. This species also has a lighter color than the two previous species.
Poaceae
The Poaceae is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of flowering plants. Members of this family are commonly called grasses, although the term "grass" is also applied to plants that are not in the Poaceae lineage, including the rushes and sedges...
, commonly referred to as the bent grasses. Among this group are some of the main traditional lawn grasses.
Selected species
- Agrostis aequivalvi (Arctic Bent)
- Agrostis avenaceaAgrostis avenaceaAgrostis avenacea is a species of grass known by the common names Pacific bent grass and New Zealand wind grass. It is native to Australia, New Zealand, and other Pacific Islands including New Guinea and Easter Island....
(Pacific Bent) - Agrostis blasdaleiAgrostis blasdaleiAgrostis blasdalei is a species of grass known by the common name Blasdale's bent grass. It is endemic to the coast of northern California, where it grows in habitat along the immediate coastline, such as dunes and bluffs. It is a perennial grass growing in tufts up to 30 centimeters tall. It has...
(Blasdale's Bent) - Agrostis canina (Velvet Bent)
- Agrostis capillaris (Common Bent; Browntop) (= A. tenuis)
- Agrostis castellana (Highland Bent)
- Agrostis clavata (Northern Bent)
- Agrostis curtisiiAgrostis curtisiiAgrostis curtisii is a species of grass in the Poaceae family native to Eurasia.It is tufted, with hair like leaves. Stems grow up to 60 cm. Its spikelets are yellow-green in colour, and its lemmas are awned. The ligule is pointed.Bristle Bent flowers in the UK from June until July and is...
(Bristle Bent) - Agrostis densifloraAgrostis densifloraAgrostis densiflora is a species of grass known by the common name California bent grass. It is endemic to the coast of northern and central California, where it grows in habitat along the immediate coastline, such as dunes and bluffs. It is a perennial grass growing in tufts between 10 and 85...
(California Bent) - Agrostis elliottianaAgrostis elliottianaAgrostis elliottiana is a species of grass known by the common name Elliott's bent grass.-Distribution:It is a bunchgrass native to various parts of North America in disjunct locations, including north-central California, southwestern and southeastern United States, and Yucatán in...
(Elliott's Bent) - Agrostis exarataAgrostis exarataAgrostis exarata is a species of grass known by the common names Pacific bentgrass, spike bentgrass, and spike redtop. It is native to western North America from Texas to the Aleutian Islands....
(Spike Bent) - Agrostis giganteaAgrostis giganteaAgrostis gigantea, known by its common name Redtop, is a perennial grass of the Agrostis genus.It is native to Europe, but in the cooler areas of North America was widely used as a pasture grass until the 1940s. Although it has largely been replaced by soybeans and more palatable grasses, it still...
(Black Bent; Redtop) - Agrostis goughensisAgrostis goughensisAgrostis goughensis is a species of grass in the Poaceae family. It is found on Gough Island.-Source:* Jakubowsky, G. 2003. . Downloaded on 20 July 2007....
- Agrostis halliiAgrostis halliiAgrostis hallii is a species of grass known by the common name Hall's bentgrass. It is native to the west coast of the United States from far southern Washington to central California, where it grows in the woodlands and forests of the coastal mountain ranges. This is a rhizomatous perennial grass...
(Hall's Bent) - Agrostis hendersoniiAgrostis hendersoniiAgrostis hendersonii is an uncommon species of grass known by the common name Henderson's bent grass. It is native to northern California and Oregon, where it is a rare member of the flora in scattered vernal pool habitats. It is an annual grass ranging in maximum height from 6 to 70 centimeters....
(Henderson's Bent) - Agrostis hooveriAgrostis hooveriAgrostis hooveri is a species of grass known by the common name Hoover's bent grass. It is endemic to California, where it is known only from western San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara Counties. It grows in woodland and chaparral in hilly terrain. This is a perennial grass growing in tufts 30 to 80...
(Hoover's Bent) - Agrostis howellii (Howell's Bent)
- Agrostis hyemalis (Winter Bent)
- Agrostis idahoensisAgrostis idahoensisAgrostis idahoensis is a species of grass known by the common name Idaho bent grass. It is native to western North America from Alaska to California to Colorado, where it grows in several habitat types.-Description:...
(Idaho Bent) - Agrostis magellanicaAgrostis magellanicaAgrostis magellanica is a species of grass. It has a circumpolar distribution and is native to many subantarctic islands in, and the coasts bordering, the Southern Ocean.-Description:...
- Agrostis manniiAgrostis manniiAgrostis mannii is a species of grass in the Poaceae family.It is found in Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea.Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry lowland grassland.-Source:* Cheek, M. & Cable, S. 2000. . Downloaded on 20 July 2007....
- Agrostis mediaAgrostis mediaAgrostis media is a species of grass in the Poaceae family.It is found only in Saint Helena.Its natural habitats are subantarctic shrubland, subantarctic grassland, rocky areas, and rocky shores.-References:...
- Agrostis mertensii (Arctic Bent)
- Agrostis microphyllaAgrostis microphyllaAgrostis microphylla is a species of grass known by the common name small-leaf bentgrass. It is native to western North America from British Columbia to Baja California, where it grows along coastal cliffs, on serpentine mountain slopes, and in vernal pools.-Description:This is a winter-flowering...
(Small-leaf Bent) - Agrostis oregonensisAgrostis oregonensisAgrostis oregonensis is a species of grass known by the common name Oregon bent grass. It is native to western North America from Alaska to California to Wyoming, where it grows in several habitat types.-Description:...
(Oregon Bent) - Agrostis pallensAgrostis pallensAgrostis pallens is a species of grass known by the common name seashore bent grass. It is native to western North America from British Columbia to Montana to California, where it grows in many types of habitat.-Description:...
(Dune Bent, Seashore Bent) - Agrostis perennansAgrostis perennansAgrostis perennans is species of grass in the Poaceae family.-Description:...
(Upland Bent) - Agrostis scabraAgrostis scabraAgrostis scabra is a common species of grass known by the common names rough bent grass and ticklegrass. A tumbleweed, it is native to much of North America, and widely known elsewhere as an introduced species. It occurs in most of the United States except parts of the Southeast and most of...
(Rough Bent, Tickle Bent) - Agrostis stoloniferaAgrostis stoloniferaAgrostis stolonifera is a perennial grass species in the Poaceae family. It is stoloniferous and may form mats or tufts...
(Creeping Bent) (= A. palustris) - Agrostis tandilensis (Kennedy's Bent)
- Agrostis trachychlaenaAgrostis trachychlaenaAgrostis trachychlaena is a species of grass in the Poaceae family. It is endemic to Inaccessible and Nightingale Islands, Tristan da Cunha. Its natural habitat is subantarctic grassland.-References:...
- Agrostis variabilis (Mountain Bent)
- Agrostis vinealis (Brown Bent)
Uses
Some species of bents are commonly used for lawnLawn
A lawn is an area of aesthetic and recreational land planted with grasses or other durable plants, which usually are maintained at a low and consistent height. Low ornamental meadows in natural landscaping styles are a contemporary option of a lawn...
grass. This is a desirable grass for golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
course tees, fairways and greens.
Bentgrass is used in turf applications for its numerous advantages: it can be mowed to a very short length without damage, it can handle a great amount of foot traffic, it has a shallow root system that is thick and dense allowing it to be seeded and grow rather easily, and it has a pleasing, deep green appearance. The name "bent" refers to the shallow roots, which bend just below the surface of the soil to propagate laterally.
Creeping Bent
(Agrostis stoloniferaAgrostis stolonifera
Agrostis stolonifera is a perennial grass species in the Poaceae family. It is stoloniferous and may form mats or tufts...
) is the most commonly used species of Agrostis. Historically, it was often called Orcheston
Orcheston
Orcheston is a civil parish and village in Wiltshire, England, lying on Salisbury Plain less than a mile north-west of neighbouring Shrewton. The present day village combines the two former parishes of Orcheston St Mary and Orcheston St George....
long grass, after a village on Salisbury Plain
Salisbury Plain
Salisbury Plain is a chalk plateau in central southern England covering . It is part of the Southern England Chalk Formation and largely lies within the county of Wiltshire, with a little in Hampshire. The plain is famous for its rich archaeology, including Stonehenge, one of England's best known...
. It is cultivated almost exclusively on golf courses, especially on putting greens. Creeping Bent aggressively produces horizontal stems, called stolons, that run along the soil's surface. These allow Creeping Bent to form dense stands under conducive conditions and outcompete bunch-type grass and broadleaf weeds. As such, if infested in a home lawn, it can become a troublesome weed problem. The leaves of the bentgrass are long and slender.
Common Bent
(Agrostis capillarisAgrostis capillaris
Agrostis capillaris is a rhizomatous and stoloniferous perennial in the grass family . It is native to Eurasia and has been widely introduced in many parts of the world...
) was brought to America from Europe. This was the type of grass that was used on the lawns of most estates. It is the tallest of the bents with very fine texture and like most bent grasses grows very dense. Although this species has been used on golf courses and sporting fields it is better suited for lawns. Colonial Bent is fairly easy to grow from seeds and fertilization of the lawn is not as intense. This grass also takes longer to establish than Creeping Bent. However it does not require the intense maintenance.
Velvet Bent
(Agrostis caninaAgrostis canina
Agrostis canina, known as brown bent or velvet bent, is a species of grass.-Description:Agrostis canina is a perennial plant, with stolons but no rhizomes, and culms which grow to a height of up to . It is frequently confused with Agrostis vinealis Agrostis canina, known as brown bent or velvet...
) gets it name for the velvet appearance that this grass produces. It has the finest texture of all the bent grasses. This grass was used in Europe for estate lawns and golf courses because it could be cut so short. This bent grass requires more upkeep and maintenance than Creeping Bent and because of this has been overlooked as a practical turf for current golf courses. This species also has a lighter color than the two previous species.
Butterfly foodplant
Butterflies whose caterpillars feed on Agrostis include:- Zabulon SkipperZabulon SkipperThe Zabulon Skipper, Poanes zabulon, is a North American butterfly first described by the French naturalists Jean Baptiste Boisduval and John Eatton Le Conte from the state of Georgia, United States....
, Poanes zabulon
External links
- http://www.bentgrasses.com/
- Interactive Key to Agrostis of North America
- Leading Bentgrass Producer