Agrostis mertensiiTrin.

northern bentgrass

WFO wfo-0000843982 Accepted WFO 2026-06 4 photographs CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–d · 4 separate observations

Agrostis mertensii, photographed by Ida B D Jacobsen
fig. a Ida B D Jacobsen, CC BY 4.0 / 2021-08-25 / obs. 154339118
Agrostis mertensii, photographed by Ida B D Jacobsen
fig. b Ida B D Jacobsen, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 154338843
Agrostis mertensii, photographed by B. Hughes
fig. c B. Hughes, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 24538250
Agrostis mertensii, photographed by Alan Weakley
fig. d Alan Weakley, CC0 1.0 / obs. 24206865

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.

Native range 49 botanical countries

Regions where Agrostis mertensii is native: Japan, Kamchatka, Khabarovsk, Kuril Is., Magadan, West Siberia, East European Russia, Finland, North European Russia, Norway, Sweden, Alaska, Alberta, Aleutian Is., British Columbia, Colorado, Greenland, Labrador, Maine, Manitoba, Montana, New Brunswick, New Hampshire, New York, Newfoundland, North Carolina, Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Ontario, Québec, Saskatchewan, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wyoming, Yukon, Argentina Northwest, Argentina South, Bolivia, Chile Central, Chile South, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Peru JapanKamchatkaKhabarovskMagadanWest SiberiaEast European RussiaFinlandNorth European RussiaNorwaySwedenAlaskaAlbertaBritish ColumbiaColoradoGreenlandLabradorMaineManitobaMontanaNew BrunswickNew HampshireNew YorkNewfoundlandNorth CarolinaNorthwest TerritoriesNunavutOntarioQuébecSaskatchewanSouth CarolinaTennesseeUtahVermontVirginiaWashingtonWest VirginiaWyomingYukonArgentina NorthwestArgentina SouthBoliviaChile CentralChile SouthColombiaCosta RicaEcuadorPeru
Native distribution of Agrostis mertensii, 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.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Alaska ASK NORTHERN AMERICA
Alberta ABT
Aleutian Is. ALU
British Columbia BRC
Colorado COL
Greenland GNL
Labrador LAB
Maine MAI
Manitoba MAN
Montana MNT
New Brunswick NBR
New Hampshire NWH
New York NWY
Newfoundland NFL
North Carolina NCA
Northwest Territories NWT
Nunavut NUN
Ontario ONT
Québec QUE
Saskatchewan SAS
South Carolina SCA
Tennessee TEN
Utah UTA
Vermont VER
Virginia VRG
Washington WAS
West Virginia WVA
Wyoming WYO
Yukon YUK
Argentina Northwest AGW SOUTHERN AMERICA
Argentina South AGS
Bolivia BOL
Chile Central CLC
Chile South CLS
Colombia CLM
Costa Rica COS
Ecuador ECU
Peru PER
Japan JAP ASIA-TEMPERATE
Kamchatka KAM
Khabarovsk KHA
Kuril Is. KUR
Magadan MAG
West Siberia WSB
East European Russia RUE EUROPE
Finland FIN
North European Russia RUN
Norway NOR
Sweden SWE

Not drawn on the map: Kuril Is., Aleutian Is.. We hold no public-domain boundary for these regions, so they are listed rather than guessed at.

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 33 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -27.5 °C -17.1 °C -14.4 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 9.7 °C 16.0 °C 20.5 °C
Annual rainfall 617 mm 1,323 mm 2,224 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 71 mm 255 mm 426 mm

It is found where winters are arctic. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 33 research-grade observations of Agrostis mertensii 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 45 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 alpestris Laest. ex Nyman
  • Agrostis bakeri Rydb.
  • Agrostis boliviana Mez
  • Agrostis borealis Hartm.
  • Agrostis borealis f. borealis
  • Agrostis borealis f. macrantha (Eames) Fernald
  • Agrostis borealis subsp. viridissima (Kom.) Tzvelev
  • Agrostis borealis var. americana (Scribn.) Fernald
  • Agrostis borealis var. bakeri (Rydb.) Koji Ito
  • Agrostis borealis var. borealis
  • Agrostis borealis var. macrantha Eames
  • Agrostis borealis var. minor Hartm.
  • Agrostis borealis var. paludosa (Scribn.) Fernald
  • Agrostis borealis var. typica Fernald
  • Agrostis borealis var. volcanorum Kom.
  • Agrostis canina var. alpina Oakes
  • Agrostis canina var. mertensii (Trin.) Hartm.
  • Agrostis canina var. mertensii (Trin.) Kuntze
  • Agrostis canina var. tenella Torr.
  • Agrostis compressa Döll
  • Agrostis concinna Tuck.
  • Agrostis gelida Trin.
  • Agrostis idahoensis var. bakeri (Rydb.) W.A.Weber
  • Agrostis laxiflora var. mertensii (Trin.) Griseb.

and 21 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.