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Info
Subfamily: Pooideae
Genus etymology: Agrostis the ancient Greek name for herbacous plants in general, literallly "field / pasture". Its later use in plant names is reserved for grasses and there are many grass genera suffixed with Agrostis
Species etymology: capillaris = "hair" [Latin] refering to the filiform branches of the inflorescence
Photosynthetic type: C3 (cool season)
Nativity: naturalized - intentional
First recorded in Hawaiʻi: 1904
Map
Inflorescence
Plant
Spikelets
Rhizomes
Description
Plants perennial; rhizomatous or stoloniferous, rhizomes or stolons to 5 cm. Culms 10-75 cm, erect or geniculate, with 2-5 nodes. Leaves basal and cauline; sheaths smooth; ligules 0.3-2 mm, shorter than wide, dorsal surfaces usually scabridulous, sometimes smooth, apices truncate to rounded, erose-ciliolate, sometimes lacerate; blades 3-10 cm long, 1-5 mm wide, flat. Panicles 3-20 cm long, less than 1/2 the length of the culm, (1)2-12 cm wide, stiffly erect, widely ovate, open, exserted from the upper sheaths at maturity, lowest node with (2)3-9(13) branches; branches smooth or scabridulous, spreading during and after anthesis, spikelets usually confined to the distal 1/2, lower branches 1.5-7 cm; pedicels 0.4-3.3 mm, adjacent pedicels divergent. Spikelets lanceolate or oblong, purplish brown to greenish. Glumes subequal, 1.7-3 mm, 1-veined, acute; lower glumes scabridulous over the midvein towards the apices; upper glumes scabridulous or smooth over the midvein; calluses glabrous, or with a few hairs to 0.1 mm; lemmas 1.2-2.5 mm, smooth, glabrous, opaque to translucent, 3(5)-veined, veins typically prominent, apices obtuse to acute, usually entire, sometimes the veins excurrent to 0.5 mm, usually unawned, rarely awned, sometimes varying within a panicle, awns to 2 mm, mid-dorsal, straight or geniculate; paleas 0.6-1.2(1.4) mm, typically at least 1/2 the length of the lemmas, veins visible; anthers 3, 0.8-1.3 mm. Caryopses 0.8-1.5 mm; endosperm solid. 2n = 28.
(Description source: Barkworth, M.E., Capels, K.M. & Long, S. (eds.) 1993. Flora of North America, north of Mexico. Volume 24. Magnoliophyta: Commelinidae (in part): Poaceae, Part 1. Oxford University Press, New York. 911 pp. http://floranorthamerica.org/Agrostis_capillaris )