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Apera interrupta txt:                                                                      BACK TO FLOWERING PLANTS

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Apera interrupta (L.) P.Beauv                                                          Dense silky-bent

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Essex Status: Casual alien.

This species and the next are, in the author's opinion, almost certainly long established crop aliens that have spread out opportunistically into other light soil habitats, - although A. interrupta is claimed to be possibly native on the Breckland heaths of East Anglia (Easy 1992). It is a poorly competing annual grass of arable soils and well-grazed heathland and grassland, with short-lived colonies appearing in gravel and chalk pits and on bare waste ground in the eastern half of England. Comparison of the 1962 and 1994 BSBI Atlas maps suggest that it is slowly extending its range. In Essex it has so far only been recorded as a short lived casual on two occasions. The genus Apera differs from Agrostis only in respect of its long firm awns which arise from the tip of the much larger lemma, which is as long as the glumes. A. interrupta is a slender wispy grass, unlikely to attract attention but for its very long awns.

All records:

TQ(51)67 61 ,78  18

Grays Chalk pit, on reseeded bank on the east side of the pit by Badger's  Dene. Presumed introduction with seed mixture. 1986. Arthur Copping.  Watsonia ???
TL(52)92 91, 23 19 Marks Tey, nr the station, 1843 gone by 1860. Dr Ezekiel Varenne. (Gibson, 1862).