Agrostis scabraWilld.

rough bentgrass

WFO wfo-0000844367 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Agrostis scabra, photographed by Syd Cannings
fig. a Syd Cannings, CC BY 4.0 / 2021-07-24 / obs. 146283800

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
1557186
Filed as
Agrostis scabra Willd.
Det. by
A. Tiehm 2022-01-01
Collected
J. Torrey 1865
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 78 botanical countries

Regions where Agrostis scabra is native: Amur, Japan, Kamchatka, Khabarovsk, Korea, Kuril Is., Magadan, Manchuria, Primorye, Sakhalin, Yakutiya, Alabama, Alaska, Alberta, Arizona, Arkansas, British Columbia, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Greenland, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Labrador, Louisiana, Maine, Manitoba, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mexico Central, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Brunswick, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Newfoundland, North Carolina, North Dakota, Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Nunavut, Ohio, Ontario, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Prince Edward I., Québec, Rhode I., Saskatchewan, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, Yukon AmurJapanKamchatkaKhabarovskMagadanManchuriaPrimoryeSakhalinYakutiyaAlabamaAlaskaAlbertaArizonaArkansasBritish ColumbiaCaliforniaColoradoConnecticutFloridaGeorgiaGreenlandIdahoIllinoisIndianaIowaKentuckyLabradorLouisianaMaineManitobaMarylandMassachusettsMexico CentralMexico GulfMexico NortheastMexico NorthwestMexico SoutheastMexico SouthwestMichiganMinnesotaMississippiMontanaNebraskaNevadaNew BrunswickNew HampshireNew JerseyNew MexicoNew YorkNewfoundlandNorth CarolinaNorth DakotaNorthwest TerritoriesNova ScotiaNunavutOhioOntarioOregonPennsylvaniaPrince Edward I.QuébecSaskatchewanSouth CarolinaSouth DakotaTennesseeTexasUtahVermontVirginiaWashingtonWest VirginiaWisconsinWyomingYukon KoreaDelawareRhode I.
Native distribution of Agrostis scabra, 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
Alabama ALA NORTHERN AMERICA
Alaska ASK
Alberta ABT
Arizona ARI
Arkansas ARK
British Columbia BRC
California CAL
Colorado COL
Connecticut CNT
Delaware DEL
Florida FLA
Georgia GEO
Greenland GNL
Idaho IDA
Illinois ILL
Indiana INI
Iowa IOW
Kentucky KTY
Labrador LAB
Louisiana LOU
Maine MAI
Manitoba MAN
Maryland MRY
Massachusetts MAS
Mexico Central MXC
Mexico Gulf MXG
Mexico Northeast MXE
Mexico Northwest MXN
Mexico Southeast MXT
Mexico Southwest MXS
Michigan MIC
Minnesota MIN
Mississippi MSI
Montana MNT
Nebraska NEB
Nevada NEV
New Brunswick NBR
New Hampshire NWH
New Jersey NWJ
New Mexico NWM
New York NWY
Newfoundland NFL
North Carolina NCA
North Dakota NDA
Northwest Territories NWT
Nova Scotia NSC
Nunavut NUN
Ohio OHI
Ontario ONT
Oregon ORE
Pennsylvania PEN
Prince Edward I. PEI
Québec QUE
Rhode I. RHO
Saskatchewan SAS
South Carolina SCA
South Dakota SDA
Tennessee TEN
Texas TEX
Utah UTA
Vermont VER
Virginia VRG
Washington WAS
West Virginia WVA
Wisconsin WIS
Wyoming WYO
Yukon YUK
Amur AMU ASIA-TEMPERATE
Japan JAP
Kamchatka KAM
Khabarovsk KHA
Korea KOR
Kuril Is. KUR
Magadan MAG
Manchuria CHM
Primorye PRM
Sakhalin SAK
Yakutiya YAK

Not drawn on the map: Kuril Is.. We hold no public-domain boundary for this region, so it is 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 445 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -24.4 °C -13.7 °C -0.9 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 16.2 °C 23.0 °C 28.0 °C
Annual rainfall 376 mm 923 mm 1,936 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 37 mm 152 mm 289 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 445 research-grade observations of Agrostis scabra 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 34 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 geminata f. exaristata Fernald
  • Agrostis geminata f. geminata
  • Agrostis hyemalis f. exaristata (Fernald) Scoggan
  • Agrostis hyemalis var. keweenawensis Farw.
  • Agrostis hyemalis var. laxiflora (Bigelow ex Michx.) Beetle
  • Agrostis hyemalis var. scabra (Willd.) Blomq.
  • Agrostis hyemalis var. tenuis (Tuck.) Gleason
  • Agrostis laxa Pursh
  • Agrostis laxiflora (Bigelow ex Michx.) Richardson
  • Agrostis laxiflora f. tuckermanii Fernald
  • Agrostis laxiflora var. caespitosa Torr.
  • Agrostis laxiflora var. montana (Torr.) Tuck.
  • Agrostis laxiflora var. scabra (Willd.) Torr.
  • Agrostis laxiflora var. tenuis (Tuck.) Torr.
  • Agrostis michauxii var. laxiflora (Bigelow ex Michx.) A.Gray
  • Agrostis pauzhetica Prob.
  • Agrostis peckii House
  • Agrostis scabra f. exaristata (Fernald) Hultén
  • Agrostis scabra f. setigera Fernald
  • Agrostis scabra subsp. septentrionalis (Fernald) Á.Löve & D.Löve
  • Agrostis scabra var. aristata Hultén
  • Agrostis scabra var. keweenawensis (Farw.) Farw.
  • Agrostis scabra var. montana (Torr.) Fernald
  • Agrostis scabra var. oreophila Alph.Wood

and 10 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.