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Purple Moor-Grass

Purple Moor-Grass

Molinia caerulea

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How common: Common

Purple Moor-Grass is a clump-forming perennial grass of wet, open places. It has blue‑green leaves and narrow, dark purple flower clusters that stand upright in late summer. You can see it on bogs, wet meadows and along shores and ditches.

Did you know?

  • Its dark purple flower heads give the plant its English name.
  • Where each leaf meets the stem there is a neat row of hairs.

About the species

Identification

Forms tight tussocks, 30–90 cm tall. Stems are upright, stiff and smooth, with only a few joints near the thick, long‑lasting, bulb‑like base; the stalk often snaps just above the base. Leaves are narrower than the stems, 3–6 mm wide, very long‑tapering, rough‑edged, blue‑green with a pale midline and sparse hairs on top; a row of hairs sits where leaf and stem meet. Flower cluster is narrow (4–20 cm), with fine branches and a dark purple‑brown colour. Seeds are tiny grain‑like. Flowers in Finland in July–August.

Plant group

Grasses, sedges and rushes

Habitat

mire

Flowering

Jul–Aug

About the habitat

Grows on moderately rich open bogs, bog edges, wet meadows, ditches, and on sandy or stony shores. Common almost throughout Finland; rather rare in the Käsivarsi area of Lapland.

Sources

Photo: Annabel, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Claviceps microcephala.jpg

Text: Pinkka: BIO-503 Suomen kasvisto ja kasvillisuus - Itämeri: rantapensaikot, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.40643

Text: Wikipedia (Finnish), CC BY-SA 4.0 https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinihein%C3%A4

See also