This variable species is widespread across northern (circumboreal) and western regions of North America; 2n = 28, 35, 42 (F, FNA 24). It is supposedly native in northern states, apparently including Mo. (Ladd & Thomas 2015). Status in Ky. remains unclear. Records here may be largely based on persistent or escaped plantings for lawns, especially greens for golf-courses. Most of the colls. mapped here as var. palustris appear distinct from var. stolonifera (which has shorter stolons, shorter leaves, and more open panicles), but further checking is warranted. The coll. from EDMO (WKY) may be var. stolonifera. HC treated palustris as a distinct species ("creeping bent") including the commonly grown cultivars. It is not clear if the distinction of these two taxa is supported by molecular analysis or correlated with native versus alien status; but American plants, even cultivars, may be generally distinct from recent introductions (Vergara & Bughrara 2003). There has also been much confusion with gigantea, and hybrids between the two species are known (Vergara & Bughrara 2004); see notes under gigantea.