Loose silky-bent

Apera spica-venti

Family: Poaceae Genus: Apera Species: spica-venti

Synonyms: Apera spica-venti var. acuta, Anemagrostis spica-venti, Muhlenbergia spica-venti, Agrostis spica-venti var. pygmaea, Agraulus anemagrostoides, Apera spica-venti f. purpurea, Agrostis spica-venti var. biflora, Agrostis spica-venti, Agrostis spica-venti var. gracilis, Avena rupestris var. filiformis, Apera effusa, Apera spica-venti var. purpurea, Agrostis spica-venti f. violacea, Agrostis spica-venti var. diffusa, Apera spica-venti var. contracta, Apera spica-venti var. subbiflora, Agrostis anemagrostoides, Agrostis spica-venti var. virescens, Agrostis spica-venti var. lutea, Avena spica-venti, Agrostis purpurea, Apera spica-venti var. mucronata, Apera purpurea, Agrostis spica-venti var. pumila, Festuca spica-venti, Apera spica-venti f. flavida, Apera maritima, Apera spica-venti var. pseudointerrupta, Agrostis boetica, Agrostis spica-venti var. purpurea, Apera spica-venti var. purpurascens, Agrostis ventosa, Agrostis anemagrostis subsp. spica-venti, Agrostis spica-venti f. flavida, Apera spica-venti f. prorepens, Apera spica-venti var. ruderalis, Milium spica-venti, Apera spica-venti var. glomerata, Agrostis anemagrostis, Agrostis spica-venti var. patula, Apera spica-venti var. virescens, Apera spica-venti var. aurea, Apera spica-venti var. prorepens, Apera spica-venti f. violacea, Apera longiseta, Apera spica-venti subsp. maritima, Trichodium filiforme

Loose silky-bent (en)

Gallery

Botanical Description

Apera spica-venti (loose silky-bent, common windgrass) is a slender annual or biennial grass of the family Poaceae growing in loose tufts on erect, smooth hollow culms 40–100 cm tall. The flat, narrowly linear, mid-green leaf blades are 5–25 cm long and 2–8 mm wide with somewhat rough surfaces, and the leaf sheaths bear a long, pointed, membranous ligule up to 10 mm that is distinctive among British grasses. The inflorescence is a very large, loose, widely spreading panicle 10–25 cm long with finely capillary, repeatedly branched green to purplish branches arranged in whorls, giving the entire flower head a delicate, hazy, almost silky appearance as it sways in the wind. The small, one-flowered spikelets are 2.5–3 mm long, borne at the tips of the slender branches, and each lemma carries a slender straight awn 5–10 mm long arising from near its apex. A diploid species, A. spica-venti is native to a wide swath of Eurasia and North Africa from the Canary Islands to Denmark and east to Yakutia, growing on sandy or loamy soils in arable fields (especially winter cereals), fallows, roadsides, and disturbed pastures, and is naturalised in the United States, Canada, and the Russian Far East.

Native Region: Albania, Algeria, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Buryatiya, Canary Is., Central European Rus, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, East Aegean Is., East European Russia, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iran, Irkutsk, Italy, Kazakhstan, Krasnoyarsk, Krym, Libya, Madeira, Mauritania, Morocco, Netherlands, North Caucasus, Northwest European R, Poland, Romania, Sardegna, South European Russi, Spain, Switzerland, Transcaucasus, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkey-in-Europe, Tuva, Ukraine, West Siberia, Yakutskiya, Yugoslavia

Cultural & Historical Context

Traditional American Uses

None Documented

Chemistry & External Identifiers

Trefle ID

224716

Important Disclaimer

This information is for educational purposes only and is not intended to replace professional medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider before using any herbal remedy, especially if you are pregnant, nursing, or taking medications.

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