Hair grass facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Hair grass |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Genus: |
Agrostis
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| Species: |
scabra
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| Synonyms | |
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Agrostis geminata |
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Agrostis scabra is a common species of grass known by the common names hair grass, rough bent, rough bent grass, winter bent grass, and ticklegrass. A tumbleweed, it is a bunchgrass native to Asia and much of North America, and widely known elsewhere as an introduced species.
Distribution
It occurs in most of the United States except parts of the Southeast and most of Canada except for the farthest northern regions. It can be found in Mexico and California, and across Alaska to far eastern Asia as far south as Korea.
It is resident in a great variety of habitats, from warm coastal valleys to the alpine climate of high mountain ranges.
Description
Agrostis scabra is a perennial bunchgrass growing mainly upright in form to heights around 75 centimeters. The leaves are rough with tiny hairs and up to about 14 centimeters long. The inflorescence is a wide open array of spreading, thready branches bearing spikelets each a few millimeters long.
Uses
The tolerance of this grass to alpine climates makes it a good plant to use in revegetating disturbed land in such regions. It is known to spring up on sites where few other plants can grow, such as abandoned coal mines and soils polluted with sulfur, copper, and nickel.
