''Nardus'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

of plants belonging to the

grass family Poaceae ( ), also called Gramineae ( ), is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos, the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in ...

, containing the single species ''Nardus stricta'', known as matgrass. It is placed in its own tribe Nardeae within the subfamily

Pooideae The Pooideae are the largest subfamily of the grass family (biology), family Poaceae, with about 4,000 species in 15 tribes and roughly 200 genera. They include some major cereals such as wheat, barley, oat, rye and many lawn and pasture grasses. ...

. The name derives from ancient Greek ' () from the earlier Akkadian ''lardu''. It is not to be confused with

spikenard Spikenard, also called nard, nardin, and muskroot, is a class of aromatic amber-colored essential oil derived from '' Nardostachys jatamansi'', a flowering plant in the honeysuckle family which grows in the Himalayas of Nepal, China, and India. T ...

, ''

Nardostachys jatamansi ''Nardostachys'' is a genus of flowering plant in the honeysuckle family (Caprifoliaceae). ''Nardostachys jatamansi'' is the sole species in genus. It is a perennial that grows in the Himalayas, primarily in a belt through Kumaon, Nepal, Sikk ...

''.

Distribution and ecology

''Nardus stricta'' is native to

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(from

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and the

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Mongolia Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...

North Africa North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...

(

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

), and northeastern North America (

Greenland Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...

, eastern

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, and the northeastern

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). ''Nardus stricta'' occurs on heath, moorland, hills, and mountains on nutrient poor acidic sandy to peaty soils and is strongly calcifuge, avoiding calcareous soils. It can occur from low elevations to over , becoming a community-dominant in late snow patches on mountains. ''Nardus stricta'' may also become a dominant species in habitats grazed by cattle or sheep because it is tough and unpalatable. It flowers from June until August.

Apomixis In botany, apomixis is asexual development of seed or embryo without fertilization. However, other definitions include replacement of the seed by a plantlet or replacement of the flower by bulbils. Apomictically produced offspring are geneti ...

is found to be common in this plant, with extensive colonies often proving to be a single clone.

Description

Culms are erect and long, with grey-green leaf-blades

filiform Filiform, thread or filament like, can refer to: * Filiform, a common term used in botany to describe a thread-like shape *Filiform, or filiform catheter, a medical device whose component parts or segments are all cylindrical and more or less un ...

and

involute In mathematics, an involute (also known as an evolvent) is a particular type of curve that is dependent on another shape or curve. An involute of a curve is the Locus (mathematics), locus of a point on a piece of taut string as the string is eith ...

, ranging from long by wide, i.e. bristle like. The

ligule A ligule (from "strap", variant of ''lingula'', from ''lingua'' "tongue") is a thin outgrowth at the junction of leaf A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the plant stem, stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above g ...

s of basal leaves are long and blunt, while those of culm leaves are longer, up to , and more pointed. The roots and shoots are very closely packed together at the base of the plant producing a white, tough, highly reflective feature. The

spikelet A spikelet, in botany, describes the typical arrangement of the inflorescences of grasses, sedges and some other monocots. Each spikelet has one or more florets. The spikelets are further grouped into panicles or spikes. The part of the sp ...

s are very slender and loosely overlapping in two rows each side of the spikelet axis. Each lemma is tipped with a short awn.

References

External links

* *
USDA Plants Database Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN)Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)Original description by Carl Linnaeus
in ''Species Plantarum'' (1753) {{Taxonbar, from1=Q9174561, from2=Q159574, from3=Q4895519 Pooideae Monotypic Poaceae genera