''Agrostis gigantea'', known by its

common name In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; and is often contrast ...

s black bent and redtop, is a

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

grass of the '' Agrostis''

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

. It is native to Europe, but in the cooler areas of North America was widely used as a

pasture Pasture (from the Latin ''pastus'', past participle of ''pascere'', "to feed") is land used for grazing. Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, cattle, sheep, or sw ...

grass until the 1940s. Although it has largely been replaced by soybeans and more palatable grasses, it still gets some use in poor soils. It was one of the grasses planted in areas disturbed by the

Trans-Alaska Pipeline The Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) is an oil transportation system spanning Alaska, including the trans-Alaska crude-oil pipeline, 11 pump stations, several hundred miles of feeder pipelines, and the Valdez Marine Terminal. TAPS is one o ...

. It generally does well in response to fires, due to survival of rhizomes and seeds. It can be found in open woodland, rough grassland, hedgerows, roadsides and waste ground, and as a weed on arable land. This species is similar to ''

Agrostis stolonifera ''Agrostis stolonifera'' (creeping bentgrass, creeping bent, fiorin, spreading bent or carpet bentgrass) is a perennial grass species in the family Poaceae. Description ''Agrostis stolonifera'' is stoloniferous and may form mats or tufts. The ...

'', with the key difference being that the latter has stolons. In fact the two are sometimes treated as a single species, and it is not always clear precisely what an author means by ''Agrostis alba'' or ''Agrostis stolonifera''. Many internet sources describe

Agrostis capillaris ''Agrostis capillaris'', the common bent, colonial bent, or browntop, is a rhizomatous and stoloniferous perennial in the grass family ( Poaceae). It is native to Eurasia and has been widely introduced in many parts of the world. Colonial be ...

as being the tallest of the bent species. However C E Hubbard describes its height as ranging from 10 to 70 cm high, whereas Agrostis gigantea is .

Marjorie Blamey Marjorie Netta Blamey MBE (13 March 1918 – 8 September 2019) was an English painter and illustrator, particularly noted for her botanical illustrations for which she was described as "the finest living botanical illustrator", "the best contem ...

Richard Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Frankish language, Old Frankish and is a Compound (linguistics), compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language, Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' an ...

and

Alastair Fitter Alastair Hugh Fitter CBE FRS (born 20 June 1948) is a British ecologist at the University of York. Fitter was educated at Oxford and at Liverpool, and came to the Department of Biology in York in 197In 2004 he was appointed Pro-Vice-Chancellor, ...

also describe black bent as being taller.

Description

The leaves are dull green. The ligule is blunt, but toothed and up to long. The panicle is open and loose, of green or purplish colour. It flowers from June to August. The leaves are rolled in shoot, not hairy, no auricles, but the plant has rhizomes. Agrostis gigantea ligula

References

External links

* * * * * {{Taxonbar, from=Q27835 gigantea Flora of Europe