Matgrass | |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Monocots |
Clade: | Commelinids |
Order: | Poales |
Family: | Poaceae |
Clade: | BOP clade |
Subfamily: | Pooideae |
Supertribe: | Nardodae |
Tribe: | Nardeae W. D. J. Koch |
Genus: | Nardus L. |
Species: | N. stricta |
Binomial name | |
Nardus stricta | |
Synonyms [1] [2] | |
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Nardus is a genus of plants belonging to the grass family, containing the single species Nardus stricta, known as matgrass. [3] It is placed in its own tribe Nardeae within the subfamily Pooideae. The name derives from ancient Greek nardos ( νάρδος ) from the earlier Akkadian lardu. It is not to be confused with spikenard, Nardostachys jatamansi .
Nardus stricta is native to Eurasia (from Iceland and the Azores to Mongolia), North Africa (Algeria, Morocco), and northeastern North America (Greenland, eastern Canada, and the northeastern United States). [1] [4]
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 1,000 metres (3,300 ft), 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. [5] [6]
It flowers from June until August. Apomixis is found to be common in this plant, with extensive colonies often proving to be a single clone.
Culms are erect and 25–60 centimetres (10–20 in) long, with grey-green leaf-blades filiform and involute, ranging from 4–30 cm (2–10 in) long by 0.5–1 millimetre (0.02–0.04 in) wide, i.e. bristle like. The ligules of basal leaves are 0.4–0.8 mm (0.02–0.03 in) long and blunt, while those of culm leaves are longer, up to 2 mm (0.08 in), and more pointed. [7]
The roots and shoots are very closely packed together at the base of the plant producing a white, tough, highly reflective feature. The spikelets are very slender and loosely overlapping in two rows each side of the spikelet axis. Each lemma is tipped with a short awn. [8]
Alopecurus pratensis, known as the meadow foxtail or the field meadow foxtail, is a perennial grass belonging to the grass family (Poaceae). It is native to Europe and Asia.
Molinia caerulea, known by the common name purple moor-grass, is a species of grass that is native to Europe, west Asia, and north Africa. It grows in locations from the lowlands up to 2,300 m (7,546 ft) in the Alps. Like most grasses, it grows best in acid soils, ideally pH values of between 3.5 and 5, however, it can continue to live under more extreme conditions, sometimes to as low as 2. It is common on moist heathland, bogs and moorland throughout Britain and Ireland. Introduced populations exist in northeastern and northwestern North America.
Brachypodium sylvaticum, commonly known as false-brome, slender false brome or wood false brome, is a perennial grass native to Europe, Asia and Africa. It has a broad native range stretching from North Africa to Eurasia.
Bouteloua gracilis, the blue grama, is a long-lived, warm-season (C4) perennial grass, native to North America.
Poa trivialis, is a perennial plant regarded in the US as an ornamental plant. It is part of the grass family.
Lagurus is a genus of Old World plants in the grass family, native to the Mediterranean Basin and nearby regions, from Madeira and the Canary Islands to Crimea and Saudi Arabia. It is also naturalized in Australia, New Zealand, the Azores, Ireland and Great Britain, and scattered locations in the Americas. The only known species is Lagurus ovatus, commonly called hare's-tail, hare's-tail grass or bunnytail. It is also grown as an ornamental plant for its attractive flower panicles.
Bromus hordeaceus, the soft brome, is an annual or biennial species of grass in the grass family (Poaceae). It is also known in North America as bull grass, soft cheat, and soft chess.
Festuca rubra is a species of grass known by the common name red fescue, creeping red fescue or the rush-leaf fescue. It is widespread across much of the Northern Hemisphere and can tolerate many habitats and climates. It is best adapted to well-drained soils in cool, temperate climates; it prefers shadier areas and is often planted for its shade tolerance. Wild animals browse it, but it has not been important for domestic forage due to low productivity and palatability. It is also an ornamental plant for gardens.
Briza media is a perennial grass in the family Poaceae and is a species of the genus Briza.
Bromus interruptus, commonly known as the interrupted brome, is a flowering plant in the grass family. It is endemic to southern and central England, which became extinct in the wild in 1972. After several decades in cultivation, the interrupted brome was re-introduced to Aston Rowant National Nature Reserve in 2004, marking the first known re-introduction of an extinct plant in Britain. The plant was a weed of waste places and arable agriculture, particularly of sainfoin cultivation. It can be distinguished from all other Bromus species by its deeply split, or bifid, palea.
Bromus secalinus is a species of bromegrass known as rye brome. The specific epithet secalinus is Latin, meaning "rye-like". The fruits are hard, rounded glumes that appear superficially similar to the rye grain, which gives the brome its common and scientific name. The grass has a diploid number of 28.
Lolium multiflorum is a ryegrass native to temperate Europe, though its precise native range is unknown.
Calamagrostis stricta, known as slim-stem small reed grass or narrow small-reed, is a species of bunchgrass in the family Poaceae of the Holarctic Kingdom.
Bromus kalmii, Kalm's brome, is a species of brome grass. It is a native bunchgrass in the North-central and Northeastern United States, the Great Lakes region, and eastern Canada. The specific epithet kalmii refers to its discoverer Pehr Kalm.
Helictochloa pratensis, known as meadow oat-grass, is a species of perennial flowering plant in the grass family Poaceae, found in temperate parts of Europe and Asia. Its culms are erect and 30–85 cm long; leaves are mostly basal. It is restricted to shallow, calcareous soils such as those formed on chalk and limestone substrates.
Carex binervis, the green-ribbed sedge, is a European species of sedge with an Atlantic distribution. It is found from Fennoscandia to the Iberian Peninsula, and occurs in heaths, moorland and other damp, acidic environments. It typically grows to a height of 15–120 cm (6–50 in), and has inflorescences comprising one male and several female spikes, each up to 45 mm (1.8 in) long. The utricles have two conspicuous green veins, which give rise to both the scientific name and the common name of the species. In the vegetative state, it closely resembles C. bigelowii, a species that usually grows at higher altitude. C. binervis was first described by James Edward Smith in 1800, and is classified in Carex sect. Spirostachyae; several hybrids with other Carex species are known.
Carex pilulifera, the pill sedge, is a European species of sedge found in acid heaths, woods and grassland from Macaronesia to Scandinavia. It grows up to 30 cm (12 in) tall, with 2–4 female spikes and 1 male spike in an inflorescence. These stalks bend as the seeds ripen, and the seeds are collected and dispersed by ants of the species Myrmica ruginodis.
Melica uniflora, commonly known as wood melick, is a species of grass in the family Poaceae that is native to much of Europe, and to parts of South West Asia and North Africa.
Trichophorum cespitosum, commonly known as deergrass or tufted bulrush, is a species of flowering plant in the sedge family. It was originally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1753 as Scirpus cespitosus, but was transferred to the genus Trichophorum by the Swedish botanist Carl Johan Hartman in 1849, becoming Trichophorum cespitosum.
Aristida contorta, commonly known as bunched kerosene grass, kerosene grass, bunched windgrass, silvergrass, mulga grass,sand speargrass, and medicine grass, is a species of grass in the family Poaceae that is native in Australia. The Walmajarri name for this species is Ngirrirli.