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Velvet Bent

Velvet Bent

Agrostis canina

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How common: Common

Velvet Bent is a fine‑leaved, tuft‑forming grass of wet ground. It often spreads with surface runners and can form low mats. The flower head is delicate and airy, often with a reddish tinge, in early to mid‑summer. You can see it by shores, on bogs and fens, along ditches and other damp places, sometimes even in shallow water.

Did you know?

  • Can form thin carpets in shallow water.
  • Can hybridise with Creeping Bent (Agrostis stolonifera).

About the species

Identification

A narrow‑leaved, tuft‑forming grass, 15–60 cm tall. Stems upright to leaning, often with long surface runners that root. Basal leaves are thread‑like (about 0.2–0.5 mm wide); other leaves 1–3 mm, flat or slightly grooved, bright to grey‑green. Flower head 3–11 cm, open and narrowly egg‑shaped with very fine branches, often reddish‑tinged. Each tiny flower usually bears a fine bent bristle. Seeds are small grains. Similar to Creeping Bent, but that has broader leaves and forms wider mats; Velvet Bent stays finer and more tufted. Flowers in Finland in June–July.

Plant group

Grasses, sedges and rushes

Habitat

shore

Flowering

Jun–Jul

About the habitat

Prefers wet, often acidic or peaty places: shore meadows, fens and bogs, wet ditches, rock pools, damp fields and lawns; sometimes grows in very shallow water. Common in southern and central Finland up to Kainuu and North Ostrobothnia; rarer further north, occasional in Inari Lapland.

Sources

Photo: Andrejus Gaidamavičius, CC BY 4.0 https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/5216950313

Text: Pinkka: Verso- ja leviäintunnistus - Kaikki leviäimet, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.40588

Text: Pinkka: IPS-153 Flora of Subarctic Europe - Actaea-Carduus, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.40588

Text: Pinkka: A Pohjolan kasveja - Abies-Allium, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.40588

Text: Wikipedia (Finnish), CC BY-SA 4.0 https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luhtar%C3%B6lli

See also