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AGROSTIS L. Bentgrass
Plants hermaphroditic, caespitose or rhizomatous or stoloniferous, annual or perennial.
Culms erect or ascending or decumbent, nodes glabrous; internodes hollow, terete. Leaves basal,
not distinctly distichous; sheaths terete, margins open; auricles absent; ligules membranous; blades
flat or folded or involute, lax. Panicles open or narrow or contracted, primary branches spreading
or ascending or appressed. Spikelets solitary, laterally compressed, awnless or awned,
pedicellate; florets 1, reduced floret absent, callus glabrous or hairy; rachilla extended
beyond floret or not extended above floret; glumes 1-veined, longer than floret, nearly equal,
glabrous, awnless; lemmas 3-5-veined, membranous, glabrous or hairy, apex entire; awnless
or awned, awn dorsal; paleas usually present or absent, veinless or 2-veined, awnless, glabrous.
Stamens 3; anthers yellow. Caryopses dorsiventrally compressed. Base chromosome number x=7.
Nearly 225 species generally from temperate and subartic habitats. The species occupy shaded and open
habitats and are commonly adventive. Several introduced taxa are important for livestock forage. Some of the
bentgrasses are used in lawns and on golf courses.
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