Common Bent

Agrostis capillaris

Please keep in mind that it is illegal to uproot a plant without the landowner's consent and care should be taken at all times not to damage wild plants. Wild plants should never be picked for pleasure and some plants are protected by law.
For more information please download the BSBI Code of Conduct PDF document.

Plant Data

Flowering Months:

JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC

Order:

Poales

Family:

Poaceae (Grass)

Also in this family:

Annual Meadow-grass, Arrow Bamboo, Bermuda Grass, Blue Moor-grass, Bread Wheat, California Brome Grass, Canary Grass, Cocksfoot, Common Cord-grass, Common Millet, Common Reed, Corn, Couch Grass, Creeping Soft-grass, Crested Dog's-tail, False Oat-grass, Giant Fescue, Greater Quaking Grass, Hairy Brome Grass, Italian Rye Grass, Knotroot Bristlegrass, Lyme Grass, Marram Grass, Marsh Foxtail, Mat Grass, Meadow Fescue, Meadow Foxtail, Mountain Melick, Pampas Grass, Perennial Rye Grass, Purple Moor-grass, Quaking Grass, Red Fescue, Reed Canary Grass, Reed Sweet-grass, Reflexed Saltmarsh Grass, Rough Meadow-grass, Six-rowed Barley, Small Sweet-grass, Smooth Meadow-grass, Soft Brome Grass, Sweet Vernal Grass, Timothy Grass, Two-rowed Barley, Wall Barley, Wild Oat, Wood Barley, Wood Melick, Wood Millet, Yorkshire Fog

Type:

Flower

Life Cycle:

Perennial

Maximum Size:

70 centimetres tall

Habitats:

Grassland, heathland, lawns, meadows, moorland, mountains, riverbanks, roadsides, wasteland, woodland.

Flower:

Green, no petals

Each plant has hundreds of tiny spikelets with only one flower per spikelet.

Fruit:

Seed heads are in open, loose clusters.

Leaves:

Very short grass despite often being called the tallest of the Bent species. Very flat, thin and ribbed leaves which taper to a point. Hairless.

Other Names:

Black Quitch, Brown Top Bent Grass, Browntop, Colonial Bent, Common Bent Grass, Herd's Grass, Monkey's Grass, New Zealand Bent Grass, Prince Edward Island Bent Grass, Red Top Grass, Rhode Island Bent, Rhode Island Bent Grass.

Frequency (UK):

Abundant

Distribution Map

Reproduced by kind permission of the BSBI.

Click to open an Interactive Map