Species
Nardus stricta
Etymology
stricta: From the Latin strictus 'upright, stiff'
Common Name(s)
mat grass
Authority
Nardus stricta Sp.
Family
Poaceae
Flora Category
Vascular - Exotic
NARSTR
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.
Structural Class
Grasses
Habitat
acid and damp but not permanently wet soils e.g. edges of tarns, ephemeral wetlands, subalpine bogs, roadside ditches, damp soil and depressions on semi-natural tussock or pastoral land (Kissling, draft paper).
Features
A perennial tufted grass. Very rough, dark green to bluish green bristly blades, 4-30 cm long, 0.5-1 mm in diameter, the outer blades spreading out horizontally. A short white firm ligule. No auricle. The tillers are packed on short rhizomes. The leaf sheaths are dull, rough and persistent. Distinctive flower heads have 2 rows of spicules on one side of the panicle, forming a bristle.
Similar Taxa
The bristle-like flowerheads are distinctive.
Year Naturalised
1935
Origin
Eurasia
Reason For Introduction
Accidental
Reproduction
Spreads by rhizome branching and fragmentation. Also seed, particularly when colonising bare ground (Kissling, draft paper).
Tolerances
Apparently not limited by topography or temperature extremes. Doesn't seem to grow in areas with less than 500mm average annual rainfall. Shade intolerant. In native range goes up to 3500m in altitude.
This page last updated on 23 Nov 2011