Matgrass (Nardus stricta)
Description
Nardus stricta, Mat-grass (English), Nard or nard raide (French), Borstgras (German). Perennial plant, small size, hairless, cespitous, with very short rhizomes. Stems erect, 10 -40 cm high, stiff. Blade needle, very narrow, hard, in a spiral, rough, bluish-green. Many blades set out perpendicular to the stem (the leaf makes a right angle: the sheath and the blade are perpendicular). Ligule short but visible (up to 2 mm). No auricles. Spike-like, stiff, one-sided inflorescence. Spikelets 1 - flowered. The weight of 1000 seeds is 0.4 to 0.5 g (small seeds). Chromosome number: 2n = 26. Often dominates grazed covers between 900 and 2200 m in the Alps. Large climate range. Very resistant to cold and long periods of snow cover. Optimum on dry soils. Restricted to soils very poor in nutrients, especially in phosphorus (oligotrophic species), and to very acid soils. Thrives on a large range of soil textures, usually on a thick layer of badly rotted organic matter (ranker, ...).
Taxonomic tree
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Domain: Eukarya
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Kingdom: Plantae
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Phylum: Magnoliophyta
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Class: Liliopsida
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Order: Poales
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Family: Poaceae
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Genus: Nardus
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