Common Heathgrass

In Great Britain and/or Ireland:
Foodplant / parasite
Blumeria graminis parasitises live Danthonia decumbens

Foodplant / saprobe
numerous, scattered or in short rows, immersed pycnidium of Stagonospora coelomycetous anamorph of Stagonospora subseriata is saprobic on dead stem of Danthonia decumbens
Remarks: season: 4-5

Sieglingia decumbens (L.) Bernh. Syst. Verz. Pfl. 20, 44. 1800
Festuca decumbens L. Sp. PI. 75. 1753.
Poa decumbens Scop. Fl. Carn. ed. 2. 1: 69. 1772. (Based on Festuca decumbens L.) Danthonia decumbens L. DC. Fl. Fran?. 3; 33. 1805. (Based on Festuca decumbens L.) Brachatera decumbens Desv. Nouv. Bull. Soc. Philom. 2: 189. 1810. (Based on Festuca decumbens L.) Triodia decumbens Beauv. Agrost. 76, 160, 179. 1812. (Based on Danthonia decumbens Lam. & DC.)
Culms densely tufted with numerous leafy shoots at the base, slender, compressed, 15-50 cm. tall; basal foliage 10-20 cm. long, the sheaths sparsely pilose to subglabrous, with long white hairs at the summit; ligule minute, ciliate; blades flat, mostly 10-15 cm. long, 1.5-2 mm. wide, scabrous toward the ends; panicle long-exserted, narrow, simple or nearly so, the 3-10 spikelets on short slender pedicels; spikelets 8-10 ram. long, turgid; glumes 8-10 mm. long, acute; lemmas 5-6 ram. long, minutely pilose on the margins and callus, the obtuse apex 3-toothed.
Typb locality: Kiirope.
Distribution: Sandy, boggy, or peaty soil, introduced in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland; native of Eurasia.

Perennials, Terrestrial, not aquati c, Rhizomes present, Stems nodes swollen or brittle, Stems erect or ascending, Stems geniculate, decumbent, or lax, sometimes rooting at nodes, 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 hairy, hispid or prickly, Leaf sheath hairy at summit, throat, or collar, 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 more or less hairy, Leaf blades scabrous, roughened, or wrinkled, Ligule present, Ligule a fringe of hairs, Inf lorescence terminal, Inflorescence a contracted panicle, narrowly paniculate, branches appressed or ascending, Inflorescence solitary, with 1 spike, fascicle, glomerule, head, or cluster per stem or culm, Flowers bisexual, Spikelets pedicellate, Spikelets laterally compressed, Spikelet 3-10 mm wide, Spikelets with 3-7 florets, Spikelets with 8-40 florets, Spikelets solitary at rachis nodes, Spikelets all alike and fertille, Spikelets bisexual, Inflorescence disarticulating between nodes or joints of rachis, rachis fragmenting, Spikelets disarticulating above the glumes, glumes persistent, Spikelets disarticulating beneath or between the florets, Rachilla or pedicel glabrous, Glumes present, empty bracts, Glumes 2 clearly present, Glumes equal or subequal, Glumes equal to or longer than adjacent lemma, Glumes keeled or winged, Glumes 4-7 nerved, Lemma coriaceous, firmer or thicker in texture than the glumes, Lemma 5-7 nerved, Lemma 8-15 nerved, Lemma body or surface hairy, L emma apex dentate, 2-fid, Lemma mucronate, very shortly beaked or awned, less than 1-2 mm, Lemma awn from sinus of bifid apex, Lemma margins thin, lying flat, Lemma straight, Palea present, well developed, Palea about equal to lemma, Palea 2 nerved or 2 keeled, Stamens 3, Styles 2-fid, deeply 2-branched, Stigmas 2, Fruit - caryopsis, Caryopsis ellipsoid, longitudinally grooved, hilum long-linear.

Danthonia decumbens (formerly Sieglingia decumbens) is a species of grass commonly known as the heath grass, heath-grass, or staggers grass It is a tussock grass native to Europe and adjacent parts of Asia and North Africa. It may also be native to Newfoundland and Nova Scotia.