Agrostis capillaris
Common name
browntop
Family
Poaceae
Flora category
Vascular – Exotic
Structural class
Grasses
NVS code
The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.
AGRCAP
Habitat
Terrestrial. Plant of coastal, lowland, montane and subalpine habitats (Timmins & MacKenzie 1995). The plant is able to grow on poor soils of low fertility (Timmins & MacKenzie 1995). Plant usually outcompeted on high fertility sites (Timmins & MacKenzie 1995). The plant is prevalent on the heavy soils of the Wairarapa (Hilgendorf 1926). Plant found in scrub and forest margin, both short and tall tussocklands, herbfields, fernlands, sanddunes and river beds (Timmins & MacKenzie 1995). The plant is found in cultivated lands and pasture communities (Hilgendorf 1926).
Features
Tufted perennial grass to 70 cm tall. Roots with rhizomes, occ stolons. All parts hairless, dark to bluish-green. Leaf blade flat, short and narrow, 100-150 x 1-5 mm, ribs regular, margins slightly rough. Ligule short, membranous and translucent, almost invisible. Leaf sheath rounded, usually smooth. Emerging leaf rolled. Seedhead open, usually up to 15cm long with spreading branches, fine, light brown, seeds tiny, brown.
Similar taxa
The plant has delicate feathery brown flower heads about 45 cm tall (Hilgendorf 1926). The plant has slender underground stems that give off numerous shoots and so forms a very close turf under lawn conditions (Hilgendorf 1926).
Flowering
December, January
Fruiting
mid-late April
Year naturalised
1867
Origin
Europe, Temperate Asia
Etymology
agrostis: Greek name for a kind of grass
capillaris: From the Latin capillus ‘hair’ or ‘thread’, meaning hair-like or thread-like
Reason For Introduction
Agricultural
Life Cycle Comments
Perennial. Vegetatively spreading perennial, predominantly outcrossing; tetraplaid (Timmins & MacKenzie 1995).
Reproduction
Sexual and Asexual
Seed
yes (Timmins & MacKenzie 1995).
Dispersal
Seed dispersed by wind, water, humans and vertebrates (Timmins & MacKenzie 1995).
Tolerances
Tolerant of drought and frost, slightly tolerant to shade and poor drainage (Timmins & MacKenzie 1995).