Agrostis stolonifera* L. Sp. Pl. 1:
62 (1753).
Classification. (GPWG 2001) : Subfamily Pooideae.
Tribe Poeae.
Common name:
Creeping Bent.
Type of Basionym or
Protologue Information: LT: Herb. A. van Royen, Europe
(L-912.356–55). LT designated by Widén, Fl. Fenn. 5: ? (1971).
Key references
(books and floras): [2002] J.Wheeler, N.Marchant & M.Lewington, Flora
of the South West (395), [2006] J.Jessop, G.R.M.Dashorst, F.M.James, Grasses
of South Australia (184), [2008] S.W.L.Jacobs, R.D.B.Walley &
D.J.B.Wheeler, Grasses of New South Wales (111), [2009] A.Wilson (ed.). Flora
of Australia, Vol 44A. Poaceae 2 (165).
Illustrations:
[2002] D.Sharp & B.K.Simon, AusGrass, Grasses of Australiia, [2006]
J.Jessop, G.R.M.Dashorst, F.M.James, Grasses of South Australia (184, fig. 133), [2008] S.W.L.Jacobs,
R.D.B.Whalley & D.J.B.Wheeler, Grasses of New South Wales, 4th edn
(111).
Derivation:
from the Latin stolo (shoot) and fero (bear). Plant with well
developed underground stems, referring to stolons.
Habit.
Perennial. Stolons present. Culms erect or geniculately ascending or decumbent,
8–40 cm tall, 2–5 -noded. Leaf-sheaths smooth. Ligule an eciliate membrane, 1–7
mm long, erose or lacerate, obtuse. Leaf-blades flat, 1–18 cm long, 0.5–5 mm
wide. Leaf-blade surface scaberulous.
Inflorescence.
Inflorescence compound, a panicle. Panicle linear or lanceolate or oblong,
dense or loose, 1–21 cm long, 0.4–2.5 cm wide, evenly furnished.
Spikelets.
Spikelets pedicelled. Fertile spikelets 1-flowered, comprising 1 fertile
floret(s), without rachilla extension, lanceolate or oblong, laterally
compressed, 2–3 mm long.
Glumes. Glumes
similar, firmer than fertile lemma, shiny. Lower glume lanceolate, membranous,
keeled, 1-keeled, 1 -nerved. Upper glume lanceolate, membranous, keeled,
1-keeled, 1 -nerved.
Florets.
Fertile lemma 1.5–2.3 mm long, without keel, 5 -nerved. Lemma surface glabrous.
Lemma apex muticous or awned. Median (principal) awn subapical. Palea present,
2 -nerved. Lodicules present. Anthers 3.
Continental
Distribution: Europe, Africa, Temperate Asia, Tropical Asia, Australasia,
Pacific, North America, South America, and Antarctica.
Australian
Distribution: Western Australia, Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria,
Tasmania.
Western Australia:
Drummond, Dale, Menzies, Warren. Queensland: Moreton, Wide Bay. New
South Wales: Central Coast, South Coast, Northern Tablelands, Central
Tablelands, Southern Tablelands. Victoria: East Gippsland, Eastern
Highlands, Gippsland Plain, Midlands, Otway Range, Volcanic Plain, Wannon. Tasmania:
King Island, North West, North East, Midlands, East Coast, South West.
Notes. Hybridises with Polypogon
monspieliensis to form xAgropogon littoralis.
Introduced. Native of Europe,
widely introduced and naturalized in cooler temperate regions. A common lawn
grass, particularly in golf and bowling greens. A weed of pastures, roadsides
and waste areas, margins of marsh, beach sand. Flowers Sept.-Feb.
