Danthonia decumbens is a species of grass commonly known as common heath grass. It is a perennial with a decumbent habit: it lies on the ground with the tips turned upward.

It is found on acid pastures and heathland on sandy or peat

Peat

Peat is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation matter or histosol. Peat forms in wetland bogs, moors, muskegs, pocosins, mires, and peat swamp forests. Peat is harvested as an important source of fuel in certain parts of the world...

, often damp soils.

The grass has no agricultural value.

Description

Narrow, bright green leaves taper to a sharp point and are rather hairy. A long upper leaf sheath clasps the delicate stem.

The ligule

Ligule

A ligule — is a thin outgrowth at the junction of leaf and leafstalk of many grasses and sedges or a strap-shaped corolla, such as that of a ray floret in plants in the daisy family....

 consists of a ring of hairs, as in Purple Moor Grass

Purple Moor Grass

Molinia caerulea is a perennial grass native to Europe, west Asia, and north Africa. It grows in locations from the lowlands up to 2,300 m in the Alps. Like most grasses, it grows best in acid soils, ideally pH values of between 3.5 and 5, however, it can continue to live under more extreme...

 (Molinia caerulea), except that in this plant each end has a fringe of hairs.

The stem is 15-30 cm high and slightly bent at the base, smooth with 1 to 3 nodes.

The panicle

Panicle

A panicle is a compound raceme, a loose, much-branched indeterminate inflorescence with pedicellate flowers attached along the secondary branches; in other words, a branched cluster of flowers in which the branches are racemes....

consists of 4 or 5 large erect glaucous silvery green or purplish awnless spikelets. These are arranged alternately on the upper part of the stem.

It flowers in the summer months.