150
The Scarce Plants of Essex. Part 2.
Apera interrupta (L.) P.Beauv Dense silky-bent
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 in Wiggington 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 Chalkpit, on reseeded bank on the east side of the
pit by Badger's Dene. Presumed introduction with seed
mixture. 1986. Arthur Copping.
TL(52)92 91, 23 19 Marks Tey, nr the station, 1843 gone by 1860. Dr Ezekiel
Varenne. (Gibson 1862).
Apera spica-venti (L.) P.Beauv Loose silky-bent
Essex status: Established alien, increasing.
A widely scattered and rapidly increasing, but attractive annual pest of arable land on light soils, where
it often grows in dense patches up to a metre high and chokes the crop, proving persistent and particularly
difficult to eradicate in corn fields, as it sheds its copious light seeds before the corn is ripe. Also
recorded ephemerally on roadside verges and waste ground. Its loose, extensive [up to 25cm x 15cm]
panicles, with green, becoming purplish spikelets, having long straight awns up to 10mm long, make it
easy to spot and identify. As Gibson (1862) only recorded it in the London area, and Stanley Jemiyn
(1974), wrote "uncommon and usually in small quantity" it would seem to indicate that it is a recent
colonist of arable fields in Essex, with a preference for glacial loams and valley terrace sands, especially
on the Tendring plateau and along the Thames valley, although it is probably under-recorded over the
rest of the county. 94 monads. See map.
Essex Naturalist (New Series) 17 (2000)