Participant Info

Species

Agrostis gigantea [Agrostis alba subsp. gigantea] [Vilfa gigantea], etc

Family

Poaceae

CommonName

black bent, redtop bent

Presence

yes

Status

exotic

EarliestDate

1931

LatestDate

2025

Ecosystem

basin, foothill, montane

Geobotanical

SSanjuans, NCristos, UBasin, LBasin

Counties

Alamosa, Conejos, Costilla, Mineral, Rio Grande, Saguache

Passes

WildlifePreserves

Baca, Blanca Wetlands, Great Sand Dunes

Other Localities

PhotoRecords

YES Richard Haswell: Rio Grande Co, Junction of Hwy 160 and CR 144, 9 July 2025

Comments

Redtop bent, a perennial cool-season grass, is an exotic that now is present in all USA states except for the Great Plains. In the Watershed Agrostis gigantea locations are mainly in the basin, although it has also been vouchered from stream sides up into the montane (e.g, Wason Ranch below Creede, Mineral Co, 1938). A. gigantea was added to hay meadows and used to stabilize irrigation ditch sides—and now used in golf courses because of its ability to thrive in poor soils and resist erosion on slopes. It is probably present in all New Mexico counties and follows the Rio Grande drainage to the border with Mexico, but not into Texas.

Annotation