Velvet Bent - Agrostis canina

A tufted grass 20 to 60 cm tall. It has numerous leafy runners that root at some of their nodes, and bear tufts of bright green, fine leaved shoots - but it has no rhizomes. Leaves are narrow (1 to 3 mm wide), rough and more or less inrolled

Photographs are required.  It may be necessary to provide a specimen for the County Recorder in order to confirm to species level.

Prefers infertile, damp, acid grassland and water margins. 

Flowering June to August.

A stoloniferous, perennial grass.

Only recently separated from A. vinealis as a separate species. As a result many earlier records can only be attributed to the aggregate of the two species which makes the status of Agrostis canina sens. str. unclear at preset.

Scarce or under recorded in Leicestershire and Rutland, where records indicate it is mainly confined to the Charnwood Forest area.

It was on the 2011 VC55 Rare Plant Register (Jeeves, 2011) but improved recording since then has meant it is found in more sites than previously thought, so it doesn't meet the criteria for the current RPR (Hall and Woodward, 2022)