''Nardus'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

of plants belonging to the

grass family Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns an ...

, containing the single species ''Nardus stricta'', known as matgrass. It is placed in its own tribe Nardeae within the subfamily

Pooideae The Pooideae are the largest subfamily of the grass family Poaceae, with about 4,000 species in 15 tribes and roughly 200 genera. They include some major cereals such as wheat, barley, oat, rye and many lawn and pasture grasses. They are often ...

. The name derives from ancient Greek ' () from the earlier Akkadian ''lardu''. It is not to be confused with spikenard, '' Nardostachys jatamansi''.

Distribution and ecology

''Nardus stricta'' is native to

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(from

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and the

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(

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), and northeastern North America (

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, eastern

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, and the northeastern

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). ''Nardus stricta'' occurs on heath, moorland, hills, and mountains on nutrient poor acidic sandy to peaty soils and is strongly calcifuge, avoiding calcareous soils. It can occur from low elevations to over , becoming a community-dominant in late snow patches on mountains. ''Nardus stricta'' may also become a dominant species in habitats grazed by cattle or sheep because it is tough and

unpalatable Palatability (or palatableness) is the hedonic reward (i.e., pleasure) provided by foods or fluids that are agreeable to the "palate", which often varies relative to the homeostatic satisfaction of nutritional, water, or energy needs. The palatabil ...

. It flowers from June until August.

Apomixis In botany, apomixis is asexual reproduction without fertilization. Its etymology is Greek for "away from" + "mixing". This definition notably does not mention meiosis. Thus "normal asexual reproduction" of plants, such as propagation from cuttin ...

is found to be common in this plant, with extensive colonies often proving to be a single clone.

Description

Culms are erect and long, with grey-green leaf-blades

filiform Filiform, thread or filament like, can refer to: * Filiform, a common term used in botany to describe a thread-like shape *Filiform, or filiform catheter, a medical device whose component parts or segments are all cylindrical and more or less un ...

and

involute In mathematics, an involute (also known as an evolvent) is a particular type of curve that is dependent on another shape or curve. An involute of a curve is the locus of a point on a piece of taut string as the string is either unwrapped from o ...

, ranging from long by wide, i.e. bristle like. The

ligule A ligule (from "strap", variant of ''lingula'', from ''lingua'' "tongue") is a thin outgrowth at the junction of leaf and leafstalk of many grasses (Poaceae) and sedges. A ligule is also a strap-shaped extension of the corolla, such as that of a ...

s of basal leaves are long and blunt, while those of culm leaves are longer, up to , and more pointed. The roots and shoots are very closely packed together at the base of the plant producing a white, tough, highly reflective feature. The

spikelet A spikelet, in botany, describes the typical arrangement of the flowers of grasses, sedges and some other Monocots. Each spikelet has one or more florets. The spikelets are further grouped into panicles or spikes. The part of the spikelet that ...

s are very slender and loosely overlapping in two rows each side of the spikelet axis. Each

lemma Lemma may refer to: Language and linguistics * Lemma (morphology), the canonical, dictionary or citation form of a word * Lemma (psycholinguistics), a mental abstraction of a word about to be uttered Science and mathematics * Lemma (botany), ...

is tipped with a short awn.

References

External links

* *
USDA Plants Database Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN)Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)Original description by Carl Linnaeus
in ''Species Plantarum'' (1753) {{Taxonbar, from1=Q9174561, from2=Q159574, from3=Q4895519 Pooideae Monotypic Poaceae genera