Agrostis scabra Willd.

More info for the terms: fire use, prescribed fire, restoration

Hamilton's Research Paper and the following Research Project Summaries
provide information on prescribed fire use and postfire response of many
plant species including ticklegrass:

• Vegetation response to restoration treatments in ponderosa pine-Douglas-fir
  forests of western Montana


• Understory recovery after burning and reburning quaking aspen stands in
  central Alberta

ticklegrass
hairgrass
rough bentgrass
winter bentgrass

More info for the term: cover

In certain areas, tickle grass provides moderate cover for white-tailed
deer, pronghorn, small mammals, upland gamebirds, and small nongame
birds.  It may also provide good cover for waterfowl [8].

Tickle grass is a short-lived, perennial bunchgrass.  Culms are slender
and erect, and the basal leaves are often scabrous.  The panicle is
large and diffuse at maturity [1,10,30,47].  Tickle grass is typically 6
to 39 inches (15-100 cm) tall [10,18,23] but often reaches 50 inches
(130 cm) in height [31,32].  The plant has a fibrous root system [48]
but is not rhizomatous [31].

Tickle grass is often confused with winter bentgrass (A. hyemalis (Walt.)
B.S.P.), but the latter generally flowers earlier [13].

Tickle grass is distributed throughout Alaska, the continental United
States (but sparingly in the Southeast), Greenland, Canada, Mexico, and
Asia [2,13,17,42,47].

More info for the term: fire regime

Wind-dispersed tickle grass seeds readily colonize bare mineral soil on
recently burned sites [6,20,38].  Seeds may also be stored for short
durations in the soil, allowing for early establishment of areas burned
in the spring [11].

FIRE REGIMES :
Find fire regime information for the plant communities in which this
species may occur by entering the species name in the FEIS home page under
"Find FIRE REGIMES".

More info on this topic.

More info for the term: hemicryptophyte

  
   Hemicryptophyte

More info for the term: forest

Tickle grass occurs throughout a wide variety of habitats including
woodlands, forest openings, grasslands, shrublands, meadows, swamps,
bogs, marshes, and stream and lake margins [5,6,24,47].  It also grows
on disturbed sites, such as in ditches or along roadsides, and in
pastures or abandoned fields [14,24,28].  Tickle grass occurs from sea
level to alpine zones [4,15,17].  It occupies sites as high as 12,000
feet (3,600 m) in Colorado [8].  Tickle grass is tolerant of a wide range
of moisture regimes; it thrives in wet or moist soils and can survive
seasonal stem submergence [13,15,41].  Tickle grass is also found in dry
habitats and is a common component of semiarid grasslands and sagebrush
communities [8,10,15,18].

Tickle grass grows well on sandy loam, loam, and clay loam soil textures
[8].  It is adapted to soils that are low in nutrients and is tolerant
of low pH levels [15].  Tickle grass shows poor growth in sodic soils
[8].

More info on this topic.

This species is known to occur in association with the following cover types (as classified by the Society of American Foresters):

     1  Jack pine
     5  Balsam fir
    12  Black spruce
    13  Black spruce - tamarack
    15  Red pine
    16  Aspen
    18  Paper birch
    38  Tamarack
    69  Sand pine
    70  Longleaf pine
    80  Loblolly pine - shortleaf pine
    81  Loblolly pine
   107  White spruce
   201  White spruce
   202  White spruce - paper birch
   204  Black spruce
   210  Interior Douglas-fir
   212  Western larch
   216  Blue spruce
   217  Aspen
   218  Lodgepole pine
   221  Red alder
   222  Black cottonwood - willow
   224  Western hemlock
   225  Western hemlock - Sitka spruce
   227  Western redcedar - western hemlock
   228  Western redcedar
   229  Pacific Douglas-fir
   230  Douglas-fir - western hemlock
   235  Cottonwood - willow
   237  Interior ponderosa pine
   239  Pinyon - juniper
   244  Pacific ponderosa pine - Douglas-fir
   245  Pacific ponderosa pine
   251  White spruce - aspen
   252  Paper birch
   253  Black spruce - white spruce
   254  Black spruce - paper birch

More info on this topic.

This species is known to occur in the following ecosystem types (as named by the U.S. Forest Service in their Forest and Range Ecosystem [FRES] Type classification):

More info for the term: shrub

   FRES10  White - red - jack pine
   FRES11  Spruce - fir
   FRES12  Longleaf - slash pine
   FRES13  Loblolly - shortleaf pine
   FRES17  Elm - ash - cottonwood
   FRES19  Aspen - birch
   FRES20  Douglas-fir
   FRES21  Ponderosa pine
   FRES23  Fir - spruce
   FRES24  Hemlock - Sitka spruce
   FRES25  Larch
   FRES26  Lodgepole pine
   FRES28  Western hardwoods
   FRES29  Sagebrush
   FRES34  Chaparral - mountain shrub
   FRES35  Pinyon - juniper
   FRES36  Mountain grasslands
   FRES37  Mountain meadows
   FRES38  Plains grasslands
   FRES39  Prairie
   FRES40  Desert grasslands
   FRES41  Wet grasslands
   FRES42  Annual grasslands
   FRES44  Alpine

More info on this topic.

This species is known to occur in association with the following plant community types (as classified by Küchler 1964):

More info for the terms: bog, forest, shrub, woodland

   K001  Spruce - cedar - hemlock forest
   K002  Cedar - hemlock - Douglas-fir forest
   K005  Mixed conifer forest
   K008  Lodgepole pine - subalpine forest
   K010  Ponderosa shrub forest
   K011  Western ponderosa forest
   K012  Douglas-fir forest
   K014  Grand fir - Douglas-fir forest
   K015  Western spruce - fir forest
   K016  Eastern ponderosa forest
   K017  Black Hills pine forest
   K018  Pine - Douglas-fir forest
   K019  Arizona pine forest
   K021  Southwestern spruce - fir forest
   K023  Juniper - pinyon woodland
   K026  Oregon oakwoods
   K037  Mountain-mahogany - oak scrub
   K038  Great Basin sagebrush
   K047  Fescue - oatgrass
   K048  California steppe
   K049  Tule marshes
   K050  Fescue - wheatgrass
   K051  Wheatgrass - bluegrass
   K052  Alpine meadows and barren
   K053  Grama - galleta steppe
   K054  Grama - tobosa prairie
   K055  Sagebrush steppe
   K056  Wheatgrass - needlegrass shrubsteppe
   K057  Galleta - three-awn shrubsteppe
   K063  Foothills prairie
   K064  Grama - needlegrass - wheatgrass
   K065  Grama - buffalograss
   K066  Wheatgrass - needlegrass
   K067  Wheatgrass - bluestem - needlegrass
   K068  Wheatgrass - grama - buffalograss
   K069  Bluestem - grama prairie
   K070  Sandsage - bluestem prairie
   K074  Bluestem prairie
   K075  Nebraska Sandhills prairie
   K076  Blackland prairie
   K081  Oak savanna
   K084  Cross Timbers
   K093  Great Lakes spruce - fir forest
   K094  Conifer bog
   K095  Great Lakes pine forest
   K098  Northern floodplain forest
   K108  Northern hardwoods - spruce forest
   K110  Northeastern oak - pine forest
   K111  Oak - hickory - pine forest
   K112  Southern mixed forest

Fire generally top-kills tickle grass.  Specific effects on tickle grass
mortality, however, are not well documented.

More info for the term: seed

Although tickle grass is a common and widespread species, the large ratio
of seed head to foliage prevents it from being an important livestock
forage plant.  Prior to flowering, however, cattle, sheep, and horses
readily consume it [32,41].

Tickle grass is occasionally eaten by elk, mule deer, white-tail deer,
pronghorn, small mammals, upland gamebirds, and waterfowl [8].  Moose
may also graze on tickle grass throughout the year [26].

More info for the term: codominant

Tickle grass occurs throughout a wide variety of habitats and may be a
dominant or codominant in moist meadows or on streambanks.  Published
classifications listing tickle grass as a dominant component of plant
associations (pas) or community types (cts) are as follows:

AREA                       CLASSIFICATION            AUTHORITY

CA: Sequoia NP             montane meadow pas        Halpern 1986

ID: Upper Salmon/Middle    riparian cts              Tuhy & Jensen 1982
Fork Salmon River

More info for the term: graminoid

Graminoid

More info for the terms: cover, seed

Tickle grass is one of the most successful native grasses in the
revegetation programs in which it has been included [29,43].  It has
shown good potential for both short-term and long-term revegetation, and
has low establishment requirements [8].  Tickle grass seed is not
available commercially, but it is produced at the Plant Materials Center
in Bridger, Montana [4,29].  Seed can be collected at a rate of
approximately 3.3 ounces per hour (95 g/hr) [29].  Tickle grass produces
lush growth in the first year if fertilized.  In field trials near Tent
Mountain, Alberta, it produced greater than 20 percent cover in
fertilized plots in the first growing season [15].  In alpine areas,
seeds should be planted in the fall to avoid breaking dormancy and to
allow for optimal growth in the spring [29].  Tickle grass is very
effective at seed dispersal, and it is not necessary to plant seeds in
areas where a source is nearby [15].

Tickle grass increases in response to grazing [46].  Because the plant is
not readily grazed after flowering, it is only utilized in the spring or
early summer.

Tickle grass has been rated as fair in energy value and low in protein
value [8].

     AL  AK  AZ  AR  CA  CO  CT  DE  FL  GA
     HI  ID  IL  IN  IA  KS  KY  LA  ME  MD
     MA  MI  MN  MS  MO  MT  NE  NV  NH  NJ
     NM  NY  NC  ND  OH  OK  OR  PA  RI  SC
     SD  TN  TX  UT  VT  VA  WA  WV  WI  WY
     AB  BC  LB  MB  NB  NF  NT  NS  ON  PE
     PQ  SK  YT  MEXICO

Tickle grass is considered to be relatively unpalatable to livestock but
is consumed early in the season [32,33,41].  The relish and degree of
use shown by livestock and wildlife in several western states is rated
as follows [8]:

                       UT          WY            MT             ND

Cattle                good        fair          poor           fair
Sheep                 fair        fair          poor           fair
Horses                fair        fair          poor           fair
Elk                   good        good          ----           ----
Mule deer             fair        poor          ----           ----
White-tailed deer     ----        poor          ----           poor
Pronghorn             poor        poor          ----           poor
Upland gamebirds      poor        fair          ----           ----
Waterfowl             poor        poor          ----           fair
Small nongame birds   poor        fair          ----           ----
Small mammals         poor        fair          ----           ----

More info on this topic.

More info for the term: seed

Tickle grass flowers from June to September, depending on location
[8,10,13].  Seed is shed in late summer [41].

More info for the term: seed

In general, tickle grass increases in abundance in response to fire.
Seedlings immediately colonize recently burned areas, provided a
favorable seedbed has been established [27,39].  Annual spring burns in
aspen stands in Alberta caused an increase in tickle grass inflorescence
production.  In unburned areas, there was an average of one flower head
per square foot (10/sq m), but on burned sites 10 flower heads per
square foot (110/sq m) were produced [2].  In interior Alaska, seedlings
were not found in burned plots where the organic layer had not been
completely removed, although a seed source was nearby.  Seedlings were,
however, abundant on adjacent firelines [45].

More info for the terms: graminoid, tussock

   Tussock graminoid
   Initial-offsite colonizer (off-site, initial community)

More info for the term: seed

Tickle grass reproduces primarily by seed but can spread laterally by
stolons.  The diffuse inflorescence breaks away at maturity and can be
dispersed over long distances by wind [15].  Seeds colonize recently
disturbed sites with exposed mineral soil seedbeds [22].

More info on this topic.

This species can be found in the following regions of the western United States (according to the Bureau of Land Management classification of Physiographic Regions of the western United States):

    1  Northern Pacific Border
    2  Cascade Mountains
    3  Southern Pacific Border
    4  Sierra Mountains
    5  Columbia Plateau
    6  Upper Basin and Range
    7  Lower Basin and Range
    8  Northern Rocky Mountains
    9  Middle Rocky Mountains
   10  Wyoming Basin
   11  Southern Rocky Mountains
   12  Colorado Plateau
   13  Rocky Mountain Piedmont
   14  Great Plains
   15  Black Hills Uplift
   16  Upper Missouri Basin and Broken Lands

More info on this topic.

More info for the terms: climax, forest, seed, succession

Facultative Seral Species

Tickle grass is generally a pioneer or invader species [11,15,22].  It is
relatively shade intolerant, and thrives in open, sunny locations [15].
Seed is widely dispersed by wind and requires bare mineral soil for
establishment; seedlings are common on recently disturbed sites [15,22].
Tickle grass has invaded abandoned fields throughout prairie regions, and
barren sandy soils near Coniston, Ontario.  It is a pioneer of dry white
spruce (Picea glauca) sites near Norman Wells, Northwest Territories
[15], and clearcut jack pine (Pinus banksiana) sites in Saskatchewan
[7].

Once tickle grass becomes established, it may remain important throughout
the early seral stages [22].  In boreal forest floodplain succession,
tickle grass invades initially, and then endures through the early willow
stages [25,44].  Tickle grass is also a component of near climax range
communities in Montana [36].  In the Sierra Nevada, California,
tickle grass is an increaser species in climax meadow vegetation [33].

Agrostis hyemalis (Walt.) B.S.P. var. tenuis (Tuckerm.) Gl.
Agrostis geminata Trin.
Agrostis hyemalis Auct.

More info for the term: fern

The currently accepted scientific name of tickle grass is Agrostis scabra
Willdenow [21,35,41,47]. It is also occasionally referred to as A.
hyemalis Auct. (or other authorities) [2,17,18] but is considered to be
specifically distinct from A. hyemalis (Walt.) B.S.P. The following
varieties are recognized:

Agrostis scabra var. geminata (Trin.) Swallen [16,21,30,42]
Agrostis scabra var. septentrionalis Fern. [10,21,35,42]

A. scabra hybridizes with A. stolonifera and A. exarata [47].

More info for the term: seed

Tickle grass is a suitable candidate for revegetation programs,
particularly in northern regions [43].  It has been used successfully
in seeding experiments on alpine sites, where areas disturbed by
grazing, recreation, and mining or mineral exploration are common [4].
Tickle grass is also reported to be common on abandoned coal-mine sites
in Alberta [37] and has colonized industrially damaged sites near
Sudbury, Ontario [19].  It naturally invades areas damaged by sulfur
emissions [48] and can be found on soils with copper concentrations of
450 p/m and nickel concentrations of 500 p/m [15].  In Yellowstone
National Park, tickle grass was seeded onto disturbed sites and after one
growing season comprised 18 to 30 percent of the vegetation on test
plots [29].  In revegetation trials in the Yukon Territory, seedlings
emerged in the first growing season in 100 percent of seeded plots.  All
plots contained viable plants 7 years later.  Eighty-six percent of
plants produced seed in the second growing season, and all live plants
produced seed during the seventh growing season [43].  In addition,
tickle grass has a fibrous root system that is effective in preventing
soil erosion [8,15,48].

Perennials, Terrestrial, not aquatic, Stems nodes swollen or brittle, Stems erect or ascending, Stems caespitose, tufted, or clustered, Stems terete, round in cross section, or polygonal, Stem internodes hollow, Stems with inflorescence less than 1 m tall, Stems, culms, or scapes exceeding basal leaves, Leaves mostly basal, below middle of stem, Leaves conspicuously 2-ranked, distichous, Leaves sheathing at base, Leaf sheath mostly open, or loose, Leaf sheath smooth, glabrous, Leaf sheath and blade differentiated, Leaf blades linear, Leaf blades very narrow or filiform, less than 2 mm wide, Leaf blades 2-10 mm wide, Leaf blades mostly flat, Leaf blade margins folded, involute, or conduplicate, Leaf blades mostly glabrous, Leaf blades scabrous, roughened, or wrinkled, Ligule present, Ligule an unfringed eciliate membrane, Inflorescence terminal, Inflorescence an open panicle, openly paniculat e, branches spreading, Inflorescence solitary, with 1 spike, fascicle, glomerule, head, or cluster per stem or culm, Inflorescence branches more than 10 to numerous, Lower panicle branches whorled, Flowers bisexual, Spikelets laterally compressed, Spikelet less than 3 mm wide, Spikelets with 1 fertile floret, Spikelets solitary at rachis nodes, Spikelets all alike and fertille, Spikelets bisexual, Spikelets disarticulating above the glumes, glumes persistent, Spikelets disarticulating beneath or between the florets, Entire inflorescence falling intact, as a tumbleweed, Rachilla or pedicel glabrous, Glumes present, empty bracts, Glumes 2 clearly present, Glumes equal or subequal, Glumes equal to or longer than adjacent lemma, Glume equal to or longer than spikelet, Glumes 1 nerved, Lemmas thin, chartaceous, hyaline, cartilaginous, or membranous, Lemma 5-7 nerved, Lemma glabrous, Lemma apex truncate, rounded, or obtuse, Lemma awnless, Lemma margins thin, lying flat, Lemma stra ight, Stamens 3, Styles 2-fid, deeply 2-branched, Stigmas 2, Fruit - caryopsis, Caryopsis ellipsoid, longitudinally grooved, hilum long-linear.

Agrostis scabra is a common species of grass known by the common names hair grass, rough bent, rough bent grass, winter bent grass, and ticklegrass. A tumbleweed, it is a bunchgrass native to Asia and much of North America, and widely known elsewhere as an introduced species.