Early Hair-grass - Aira praecox
A short erect plant, usually less than 10cm cm tall with bristle-like grey green leaves which soon wither. It has a dense, oval to oblong spike like panicle, smooth leaf sheaths and untoothed, 3 mm long ligules.
Photograph the whole plant in its habitat
Dry, sandy places, rocky outcrops and heath grassland.
Flowering April to June
Annual.
Widespread in Britain, but rather local.
Locally frequent in Charnwood Forest, occasional elsewhere in Leicestershire and Rutland. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was found in 30 of the 617 tetrads.
David Nicholls
Mountsorrel Castle Hill
19 May 2018
David Nicholls
Mountsorrel Castle Hill
19 May 2018
David Nicholls
Bradgate Park
05 July 2013
David Nicholls
Bradgate Park
05 July 2013
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Species profile
- Common names
- Small Hair-Grass, Early Hair-grass
- Species group:
- Grasses, Rushes & Sedges
- Kingdom:
- Plantae
- Order:
- Poales
- Family:
- Poaceae
- Records on NatureSpot:
- 17
- First record:
- 26/04/2007 (Dave Wood)
- Last record:
- 10/09/2024 (Isabel Raval)
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% of records within its species group
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