A bunch grass up to 1 m tall, each stem with a bulbous, hard base | |||
leaves |
inflorescence |
spikelets |
lemmas |
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palea |
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florets |
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General
Description:
Culms 50-100 cm tall, from a swollen base, forming large clumps; blades elongate,
mostly 5 mm wide; panicle 5-10 cm long, 1 cm or less wide; glumes about 3.5
mm long, truncate, with a stout awn 1 mm long, pectinate-ciliate on the keel.
Escaped from cultivation over most of N. Am. This is one of our most valuable
grasses for forage.
Similar
Species:
Phleum alpinum L.
Distribution:
Throughout the U. S. and southern Canada in moist areas.
Habitat:
An introduced grass which seems to appear wherever horses are grazed and is
planted with alfalfa as a hay crop, in waste places, old fields, roadsides and
railroad embankments, logging roads where planted to prevent erosion.
Other:
Phleum pratense is an important forage grass and crop plant for hay,
particularly for horse feed; originally from Eurasia. A look-alike is Phleum
alpinum L. which is a native grass which has shorter, broader, panicles,
lacks a bulbous base and is often purplish in the inflorescence.