Agrostis altissima (Walt.) Tuckerm.

Locations ofAgrostis altissima (Walt.) Tuckerm. in Virginia

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Detail

Family
Poaceae
Botanical Name
Agrostis altissima (Walt.) Tuckerm.
Common Name
Coastal Bog Bentgrass, Tall Bentgrass
Synonym(s)
Agrostis perennans (Walt.) Tuckerman var. elata (Pursh) Hitchc.
Flora of Virginia Name/Status
Agrostis altissima (Walt.) Tuckerman
Comments
Although sometimes treated as a var. of Agrostis perennans, this taxon seems distinctive enough ecologically and morphologically to warrant species status. Most of our distribution records are from Fernald's 14 years of intensive collecting in southeastern Virginia (1933-1947). Today this taxon is poorly known in the state and has probably been lumped with Agrostis perennans in most floristic studies. Herbarium specimens need critical evaluation.
Habitat
Bogs, boggy clearings, depression swamps and ponds. In 1939, Fernald (Rhodora 41:503) reported that is was "characteristic of sphagnous bogs and wet pinelands, especially well developed in Greensville, Sussex, and Dinwiddie Counties; there with very large panicles (up to 3.5 dm long)." In the contemporary landscape, it is infrequent or rare in the s. and c. Coastal Plain; and disjunct to to a sphagnous sinkhole pond border in Augusta County (Ridge and Valley province).
Native Status
Native

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