Creeping Bent
Agrostis stolonifera

Order - Poales

Family - Poaceae

Names:

Agrostis

Stolonifera

Creeping Bent because it often has stoloniferous stems that creep along the ground and it has characteristically bent stems.

Other Names

Marsh Bent

Browntop Bent

Summary:

A tufted perennial grass that often has creeping stems.

Description:

Cotyledons:

One.

Leaves:

Blade - Flat, parallel sided with a fine tapering tip, 10-250 mm long by 0.5-5 (-8) mm wide, 10-30 nerved. Rolled when young. Hairless. Slightly rough to touch.
Ligule - Membranous, egg shaped or flat topped, 1-6 mm long, rough to touch or slightly hairy on the outer surface.
Auricles - None.
Sheath - Rounded. Mainly hairless.

Stems:

Spreading, 80-400 mm tall. Often bent at the lower nodes. Often has leafy stems that form roots at the nodes (stolons). Nodes and stems are hairless.

Flowering stems: Erect, from bent or low lying base.

Flower head:

Open, whitish or purple, narrowly egg shaped to parallel side panicle, contracted after flowering, 10-200 mm long, branched with clustered branches of differing lengths and some branches bearing spikelets from the base. Hairless. Spikelets densely clustered.

Flowers:

Spikelets -Narrowly egg shaped to oblong, 1 flowered, 1.5-3.5 mm long on stalks 0.5-2 mm long.
Florets - 1
Glumes - Persistent, narrowly egg shaped, membranous, 1 ribbed, about the same length, rough on the upper half of the back or smooth.
Palea - 1-1.5 mm long.
Lemma - Egg shaped to oblong, thin, 1.2-2.5 mm long, 5 nerved, rarely 3 nerved, usually without awns or rarely with a straight awn from the back or tip.
Stamens -
Anthers -

Breaks above the glumes.

Fruit:

Seeds:

Roots:

Fibrous. Often has stems (stolons) that form roots at the nodes. It occasionally has underground stems (rhizomes).

Key Characters:

Leaves rolled in the bud.

Lemma not awned or with a short awn from the apex.

Biology:

Life cycle:

Perennial.

Physiology:

Reproduction:

Flowering times:

December, January and July in Perth.

Seed Biology and Germination:

Vegetative Propagules:

Hybrids:

Aquatic biotypes exist.

Population Dynamics and Dispersal:

Spread by seed and stem, stolon or rhizome fragments.

Origin and History:

Europe. North America. Temperate Asia. Temperate northern hemisphere regions.

Distribution:

NSW, QLD, TAS, VIC, WA.

Habitats:

Climate:

Temperate.

Soil:

Plant Associations:

Significance:

Beneficial:

Cultivated as a turf grass.

Detrimental:

Weed of rotation crops, perennial crops, grass land, pastures, water ways, roadsides and disturbed areas.

Toxicity:

Not recorded as toxic.

Legislation:

None.

Management and Control:

Thresholds:

Eradication strategies:

Herbicide resistance:

Biological Control:

Related plants:

Australian Bent (Agrostis australiensis)

Blowngrass (Agrostis aemula, Agrostis avenacea)

Braventop Bent (Agrostis capillaris)

Coast Blowngrass (Agrostis billardieri)

Creeping Bent (Agrostis stolonifera)

Graceful Bent (Agrostis venusta)

Hair Bent (Agrostis parviflora)

Mueller's Bent (Agrostis muelleriana)

Redtop Bent (Agrostis gigantea)

Velvet Bent (Agrostis canina)

Winter Bent (Agrostis hiemalis)

Plants of similar appearance:

References:

Ciba Geigy (1981) Grass Weeds 2. CIBA GEIGY Ltd, Basle, Switzerland. P9. Diagrams.

Hussey, B.M.J., Keighery, G.J., Cousens, R.D., Dodd, J. and Lloyd, S.G. (1997). Western Weeds. A guide to the weeds of Western Australia. (Plant Protection Society of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia). P40.

Lazarides, M. and Hince, B. (1993). CSIRO handbook of economic plants of Australia. (CSIRO, Melbourne). #38.11.

Marchant et al (1987). Flora of the Perth Region. (Western Australian Herbarium, Department of Agriculture, Western Australia). P935.

Paterson, J.G. (1977). Grasses in South Western Australia. (Western Australian Department of Agriculture Bulletin 4007). P19.

Acknowledgments:

Collated by HerbiGuide. Phone 08 98444064 or www.herbiguide.com.au for more information.