Black Bent

Black Bent - Agrostis gigantea

Description

A tall grass, reaching up to 150 cm with creeping underground rhizomes and flat furrowed leaves. Spreading in flower and in fruit.

Similar Species

Common Bent (Agrostis capillaris) and Creeping Bent (Agrostis stolonifera)

Identification difficulty
ID checklist (your specimen should have all of these features)

This is usually a tall and robust grass, often close to 1 metre tall with some leaves at least 5mm wide or more, but it can be much shorter. Ligules of upper tiller leaves longer than wide (as with A stolonifera); rarely with stolons.  Panicle branches remain spreading after flowering, unlike A stolonifera, where the panicle contracts after flowering.

Recording advice

The County Recorder has asked for a specimen of this plant to be retained for verification

Habitat

Arable land and damp woodland.

When to see it

June to August.

Life History

Perennial.

UK Status

Fairly frequent in most of Britain but scarcer in some northern areas.

VC55 Status

Fairly frequent in Leicestershire and Rutland. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was found in 210 of the 617 tetrads.

In the current checklist (Jeeves 2011) it is listed as occasional, but probably under-recorded

Leicestershire & Rutland Map

MAP KEY:

Yellow squares = NBN records (all known data)
Coloured circles = NatureSpot records: 2025+ | 2020-2024 | pre-2020

UK Map

Additional images

No additional images available for this species.

All NatureSpot records