Agrostis giganteaRoth

black bentredtop

WFO wfo-0000843693 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Agrostis gigantea, photographed by Dmitriy Bochkov
fig. a Dmitriy Bochkov, CC BY 4.0 / 2021-07-25 / obs. 174104868
Agrostis gigantea, photographed by Jean Sorensen
fig. b Jean Sorensen, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 141794340
Agrostis gigantea, photographed by Yurii Basov
fig. c Yurii Basov, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 102892319
Agrostis gigantea, photographed by Quinten Wiegersma
fig. d Quinten Wiegersma, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 95662289
Agrostis gigantea, photographed by Nina Filippova
fig. e Nina Filippova, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 87976742
Agrostis gigantea, photographed by Eugene Popov
fig. f Eugene Popov, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 82456945
Agrostis gigantea, photographed by Robert H. Wardell
fig. g Robert H. Wardell, CC0 1.0 / obs. 82633332
Agrostis gigantea, photographed by Aaron Liston
fig. h Aaron Liston, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 82398530

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

The specimen a real sheet, in a real collection

Herbarium
The New York Botanical Garden
Accession
1554571
Filed as
Agrostis gigantea Roth
Det. by
A. Tiehm 2022-01-01
Collected
M. Honer 2001-08-27
Origin
US
The sheet
View the digitised specimen (CC BY 4.0)

A real pressed plant, in a real collection, under the accession number above. Not an illustration of one. The holding institution does not serve this sheet’s image to third parties, so there is no photograph here. The record is real and the link goes to it. Where we hold no openly licensed sheet for a species this section is simply absent, and where a sheet never recorded who determined it, that field stays empty rather than being filled in. Roughly half of all herbarium sheets never recorded a determiner, which is ordinary.

Native range 67 botanical countries

Regions where Agrostis gigantea is native: Algeria, Morocco, Afghanistan, Altay, Amur, Buryatiya, China North-Central, China South-Central, China Southeast, Chita, East Aegean Is., Inner Mongolia, Iran, Iraq, Irkutsk, Kazakhstan, Khabarovsk, Kirgizstan, Korea, Magadan, Manchuria, Mongolia, North Caucasus, Primorye, Qinghai, Tibet, Transcaucasus, Türkiye, Uzbekistan, Xinjiang, Yakutiya, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Thailand, West Himalaya, Albania, Austria, Baltic States, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Central European Russia, Czechia-Slovakia, Denmark, East European Russia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Kriti, Krym, Netherlands, North European Russia, Northwest European Russia, Norway, NW. Balkan Pen., Poland, Romania, South European Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye-in-Europe, Ukraine AlgeriaMoroccoAfghanistanAltayAmurBuryatiyaChina North-CentralChina South-CentralChina SoutheastChitaEast Aegean Is.Inner MongoliaIranIraqIrkutskKazakhstanKhabarovskKirgizstanMagadanManchuriaMongoliaNorth CaucasusPrimoryeQinghaiTibetTranscaucasusTürkiyeUzbekistanXinjiangYakutiyaMyanmarNepalPakistanThailandWest HimalayaAlbaniaAustriaBaltic StatesBelarusBelgiumBulgariaCentral European RussiaCzechia-SlovakiaDenmarkEast European RussiaFinlandFranceGermanyGreeceHungaryItalyKritiKrymNetherlandsNorth European RussiaNorthwest European RussiaNorwayNW. Balkan Pen.PolandRomaniaSouth European RussiaSpainSwedenSwitzerlandTürkiye-in-EuropeUkraine Korea
Native distribution of Agrostis gigantea, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Albania ALB EUROPE
Austria AUT
Baltic States BLT
Belarus BLR
Belgium BGM
Bulgaria BUL
Central European Russia RUC
Czechia-Slovakia CZE
Denmark DEN
East European Russia RUE
Finland FIN
France FRA
Germany GER
Greece GRC
Hungary HUN
Italy ITA
Kriti KRI
Krym KRY
Netherlands NET
North European Russia RUN
Northwest European Russia RUW
Norway NOR
NW. Balkan Pen. YUG
Poland POL
Romania ROM
South European Russia RUS
Spain SPA
Sweden SWE
Switzerland SWI
Türkiye-in-Europe TUE
Ukraine UKR
Afghanistan AFG ASIA-TEMPERATE
Altay ALT
Amur AMU
Buryatiya BRY
China North-Central CHN
China South-Central CHC
China Southeast CHS
Chita CTA
East Aegean Is. EAI
Inner Mongolia CHI
Iran IRN
Iraq IRQ
Irkutsk IRK
Kazakhstan KAZ
Khabarovsk KHA
Kirgizstan KGZ
Korea KOR
Magadan MAG
Manchuria CHM
Mongolia MON
North Caucasus NCS
Primorye PRM
Qinghai CHQ
Tibet CHT
Transcaucasus TCS
Türkiye TUR
Uzbekistan UZB
Xinjiang CHX
Yakutiya YAK
Myanmar MYA ASIA-TROPICAL
Nepal NEP
Pakistan PAK
Thailand THA
West Himalaya WHM
Algeria ALG AFRICA
Morocco MOR

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Where it actually grows measured, from 1,467 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -22.0 °C -10.9 °C -1.8 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 21.1 °C 23.4 °C 28.8 °C
Annual rainfall 409 mm 685 mm 1,318 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 45 mm 109 mm 255 mm

It is found where winters are severely cold. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 1,467 research-grade observations of Agrostis gigantea that carry a coordinate, and this is the range those places actually span. The 5th and 95th percentiles are used rather than the minimum and maximum, because a single cultivated specimen in a heated conservatory should not widen a tropical plant's range to the Arctic.

This is not a hardiness zone. A USDA zone is the average annual extreme minimum temperature. The figure above is the mean daily minimum of the coldest month, which is a different quantity and is typically far warmer. Reading one as the other would place a plant several zones too warm, so we do not publish a hardiness zone, because we do not have one.

Also published as 97 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Agrostis alba f. aristata Fernald
  • Agrostis alba f. aristigera (Fernald) Fernald
  • Agrostis alba subsp. dubia (Leers) K.Richt.
  • Agrostis alba subsp. gigantea (Roth) Arcang.
  • Agrostis alba subsp. maior Gaudin
  • Agrostis alba subsp. major Gaudin
  • Agrostis alba var. aggregata Tourlet
  • Agrostis alba var. aristata Boiss.
  • Agrostis alba var. compressa Bréb.
  • Agrostis alba var. diffusa (Host) Asch. & Graebn.
  • Agrostis alba var. dilatata G.Mey.
  • Agrostis alba var. dispar (Michx.) Alph.Wood
  • Agrostis alba var. elata Blytt
  • Agrostis alba var. gigantea (Roth) Lej.
  • Agrostis alba var. hostiana Rouy
  • Agrostis alba var. laxa Pauquy
  • Agrostis alba var. limosa (Schur) Nyman
  • Agrostis alba var. major Gaudin
  • Agrostis alba var. pallens Gaudin
  • Agrostis alba var. pontica Lavrenko
  • Agrostis alba var. pratensis Buchenau
  • Agrostis alba var. vulgaris G.Mey.
  • Agrostis altissima Lojac.
  • Agrostis campestris Phil.

and 73 more.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.