False Oat-grass - Arrhenatherum elatius

Description

Loosely tufted grass 50 to 150 cm tall, with orange yellow roots and dull flat leaves 10 to 40 cm long and 1 to 8 mm wide. Panicle is 10 to 25 cm long, whorled and loosely spreading in flower, but closed up in fruit. Spikelets 7 to 10 mm long the lower floret with a bent awn 10 20 mm long on the back of the lemma, the upper usually awnless.

Identification difficulty
ID guidance

The panicle is branched but the branches close together after fertilisation giving the appearance of a long, gracefully arched spike. Each spikelet has one awn projecting as long as the spikelet. Spikelets have only two florets, one of which has anthers and a stigma.

Habitat

Meadows and road verges.

When to see it

June and July.

Life History

Perennial.

UK Status

Very common throughout Britain.

VC55 Status

Very common in Leicestershire and Rutland. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was found in 604 of the 617 tetrads.

Leicestershire & Rutland Map

MAP KEY:

Yellow squares = NBN records (all known data)
Coloured circles = NatureSpot records: 2020+ | 2015-2019 | pre-2015

UK Map

Species profile

Common names
False Oat-grass
Species group:
Grasses, Rushes & Sedges
Kingdom:
Plantae
Order:
Poales
Family:
Poaceae
Records on NatureSpot:
255
First record:
01/07/1998 (John Mousley)
Last record:
28/10/2023 (Smith, Peter)

Total records by month

% of records within its species group

10km squares with records

The latest images and records displayed below include those awaiting verification checks so we cannot guarantee that every identification is correct. Once accepted, the record displays a green tick.

In the Latest Records section, click on the header to sort A-Z, and again to sort Z-A. Use the header boxes to filter the list.

Latest images

Latest records