THIS IS A DRAFT
The species account below is an early version, drafted around 2003. It has been provided here to aid understanding, but please be aware it may not fully tally with the up-to-date map and statistics shown below.
Brachypodium pinnatum
Tor-grass
Species Details
Tor-grass is a native perennial of grasslands waysides scrub and quarries, generally on calcareous soils. It is very common on the Magnesian Limestone (Pleasley Vale SK5064, Scarcliffe Park SK5070 & Ginny Spring SK5278) where it is locally dominant in calcareous grasslands. It is rare and generally less abundant in the White Peak (Miller’s Dale Station SK1373, Cressbrook Dale SK1774 & Gratton Dale SK2059), and very rare elsewhere in our area (Crich SK3455 & Sudbury Park SK1633). It has spread locally, and nationally, since 1950 due to a decrease in grazing. On spreading it can swamp the growth of other plants though at least at one local site (Miller’s Dale) it is now receding and thus is less of a threat to other species. At Chelmorton (SK0969) where the plant was recorded in 1971, Derbyshire holds the national altitudinal record for this grass at 305 metres (Preston XXet al. 2002).