Rough Bentgrass
Agrostis scabra
Family: Poaceae
Tufted perennial (no rhizomes or stolens) usually to about 1-2+’ tall. The plants often have a reddish hue when first blooming. They also can turn red with cold weather when they are dormant.
Full to part sun, best on regular landscape irrigation. Hardiness untested but native to elevations of almost 10,000’, so well below zero °F.
Rough bentgrass is occasionally eaten by elk, mule deer, white-tail deer, pronghorn, small mammals, upland gamebirds, and waterfowl. It is known to spring up on sites where few other plants can grow, such as abandoned coal mines and soils polluted with sulfur, copper, and nickel. Prior to flowering, cattle, sheep, and horses readily consume it; it is also occasionally consumed by wild animals and after flowering by livestock—after it flowers it is not as palatable for livestock.
Photo by Michael J. Papay, iNaturalist
Agrostis scabra on SEINET
Agrostis is from the Latin and Greek names for a type of grass, from Greek agron or agros, field or pasture, while scabra comes from the Latin scaber meaning rough or scurfy. There are 213 species of Agrostis found in nearly all the countries in the world.
This species occurs in most of the United States except parts of the Southeast and most of Canada except for the farthest northern regions. It can be found in Mexico and California, and across Alaska to far eastern Asia as far south as Korea. In Arizona it is found in meadows, moist seeps and along streams or lakes from 5,000-9,500 ft.
These plants form neat little tufts. Photo by Peter Jessen, iNaturalist
Spikelet detail, photo by Ethan, iNaturalist