Agrostis mertensii Trin.

Agrostis borealis Hartm. Handb. Skand. Fl. ed. 3. 17. 1838
? Agrostis rubra L. Sp. PI. 62. 1753. (Identity uncertain.)
Agrostis canina var. aenea Trin.; Bong. Mem. Acad. St.-Petersb. VI. 2: 170. 1832. (Type from
Sitka, Alaska.) Agrostis canina var. melaleuca Trin.; Bong. Mem. Acad. St.-Petersb. VI. 2: 170. 1832. (Type from
Sitka, Alaska.) Agrostis aenea Trin. Mem. Acad. St.-Petersb. VI. 6 2 : 332. 1841. (Based on A. canina var. aenea
Trin.) Not A. aenea Spreng. 1827. Agrostis canina var. tenella Torr. Fl. N. Y. 2: 443. 1843. (Type from northern New York.) Agrostis Pickeringii Tuckerm. Mag. Hort. Hovey 9: 143. 1843. (Type from White Mountains,
New Hampshire.) Agrostis concinna Tuckerm. Mag. Hort. Hovey 9: 143. 1843. (Type from Mount Monroe, White
Mountains, New Hampshire.) Agrostis Pickeringii var. rupicola Tuckerm. Am. Jour. Sci. 45: 42. 1843. (Type from White
Mountains, New Hampshire.) Trichodium concinnum Wood, Class-Book ed. 2. 600. 1847. (Based on Agrostis concinna Tuckerm.) Agrostis exarata var. aenea Griseb. in Ledeb. Fl. Ross. 4: 441. 1853. (Based on A. canina var. aenea
Trin.) Aira labradorica Steud. Syn. Gram. 220. 1854. (Type from Labrador. Steudel describes the
spikelet as 2-flowered, but the type specimen in Paris has but one floret; the description otherwise agrees with the specimen.) Agrostis rubra var. breviaristata Lange, Consp. Fl. Groenl. 158. 1880. (Type from Julianehaab,
Greenland.) Agrostis rubra var. americana Scribn. in Macoun, Cat. Can. PI. 2 5 : 391. 1890. (Based on ".4.
rupestris Chapm. (non All.)," the type from Roan Mountain, North Carolina.) Agrostis novae-angliae Vasey, Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 3: 76. 1892. (Type from Mount Washington,
New Hampshire, Pringle.) Not A. novaeangliae Tuckerm. Agrostis rubra var. alpina MacM. Metasp. Minn. Valley 65. 1892. (Based on A. canina var.
alpina Oakes, a name only, but other synonyms cited show that the name belongs here.) Agrostis paludosa Scribn. Bull. U. S. Dep. Agr. Agrost. 11: 49. 1898. (Type from Blanc Sablon,
Labrador.) Agrostis borealis var. macrantha Eames, Rhodora 11: 88. 1909. (Type from Blow-me-down
Mountains, Newfoundland, the spikelets abnormal.) Agrostis Bakeri Rydb. Bull. Torrey Club 36: 532. 1909. (Type from Pagosa Peak, Colorado,
Baker 150.) Agrostis borealis var. paludosa Fernald, Rhodora 35: 207. 1933. (Based on A. paludosa Scribn.)
Perennial; culms erect or sometimes geniculate at base, cespitose, glabrous, 20-60 cm. tall or, in alpine or high northern plants, dwarf; sheaths glabrous; ligule 1-2 mm. long; blades flat or more or less involute, glabrous or somewhat scabrous, 5-10 cm. long, mostly less than 1 mm. wide, in large lax plants as much as 3 mm. wide; panicle pyramidal, 5-15 cm. long, the axis and branches glabrous or more or less scabrous, the lower whorled, spreading, naked below, mostly 1-4 cm. long; glumes 2.5-3 mm. long, acute, somewhat scabrous on the keels; lemma a little shorter than the glumes, awned from about the middle, the awn usually bent and exserted, sometimes straight and included, rarely wanting; palea minute or obsolete.
Type locality: Sweden.
Distribution: Rocky slopes and moist banks at high altitudes and latitudes, Newfoundland and Greenland to Alaska, and southward to the high mountains of New England and New York; West Virginia; summit of Roan Mountain, North Carolina; and in the Rocky Mountains to Colorado; also in northern Europe.