Agrostis stolonifera
Creeping bent
(c) Julia Palmer, some rights reserved (CC BY) · licence
Family: Poaceae · Type: Grass · Not Native
Conservation status: Cal-IPC Yes
Agrostis stolonifera (Creeping bent) is a non-native California grass in the Poaceae family, recognized by prominent stolons forming mats, wetland habitat, and awnless lemmas.
Creeping bent is a naturalized perennial herb found in northwestern California, the Cascade Range, northern Sierra Nevada, central western California, southwestern California, White and Inyo Mountains, and desert mountains in ditches, lake margins, and marshes at elevations below 1,000 meters. Flowering from June to September, this plant produces small, delicate green-white flowers in dense, elliptical inflorescences 3 to 15 centimeters long. Growing with decumbent to erect stems 8 to 60 centimeters tall, it forms distinctive mat-like colonies with long stolons spreading 5 to 100 centimeters. Its flat leaves are 2 to 10 centimeters long and 2 to 5 millimeters wide, with ligules 2 to 5 millimeters long that are distinctly longer than wide. The plant's compact growth and spreading habit make it particularly adaptable to wet, open environments.
Identification and appearance
Key characters: 19 sympatric species; key features are prominent stolons forming mats, wetland habitat, and awnless lemmas
Habitat and range
Habitat: Ditches, lake margins, marshes
Elevation: < 1000 m
California counties: Humboldt, Contra Costa, Tuolumne, Amador, Los Angeles, Marin, Mariposa, Mendocino, Santa Clara, Alpine, Butte, Del Norte, El Dorado, Fresno, Glenn, Inyo, Kern, Lassen, Mono, Nevada, Orange, Placer, Plumas, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Francisco, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Siskiyou, Sonoma, Tehama, Ventura, Monterey, Lake, Napa, San Mateo, Trinity, Shasta, Yuba, Yolo, Calaveras, Modoc, Tulare, Sierra, Alameda, Sacramento, San Joaquin, Madera, Solano, Stanislaus, Santa Cruz
Outside California: to southern Canada, eastern United States, native to Europe
Bloom period
Agrostis stolonifera blooms Jun-Sep.
Conservation status
Cal-IPC Yes
How to tell it apart
vs Oloptum: Oloptum has prominent bent awns; Agrostis awns are tiny or absent.; vs Holcus: Holcus has velvety-hairy spikelets; Agrostis spikelets are smooth and glossy.; vs Polypogon: Polypogon has dense bristly panicles; Agrostis panicles are airy and delicate.; vs Poa: Poa has boat-shaped lemmas with 5 veins; Agrostis lemmas are rounded with faint veins.; vs Festuca: Festuca has multiple flowers per spikelet; Agrostis has single-flowered spikelets.
Frequently asked questions
Is Agrostis stolonifera native to California?
No. Agrostis stolonifera is not native to California (recorded as not native).
When does Agrostis stolonifera bloom?
Agrostis stolonifera blooms Jun-Sep.
Where in California does Agrostis stolonifera grow?
Agrostis stolonifera occurs in Humboldt, Contra Costa, Tuolumne, Amador, Los Angeles, Marin, Mariposa, Mendocino and other counties, at elevations of < 1000 m.
What plant family does Agrostis stolonifera belong to?
Agrostis stolonifera is in the Poaceae family, genus Agrostis.
Is Agrostis stolonifera invasive in California?
Agrostis stolonifera is listed by Cal-IPC with an invasiveness rating of Yes.
Related species
Other California species in the same genus, family, or bioregion.
- Agrostis tandilensis — Kennedy's bent grass
- Agrostis variabilis — Mountain bent grass
- Agrostis avenacea — Pacific bent grass
- Agrostis blasdalei — Blasdale's bent grass
- Agrostis capillaris — Colonial bent
- Agrostis densiflora — California bent grass
- Aira caryophyllea — Silver hair grass
- Aira elegans — Elegant hair grass
Sources: Jepson eFlora · Index of California Plant Names · CalPhotos
Last updated 2026-10-07
Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Cal-IPC, and more.