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Poa annua - annual bluegrass, walkgrass

Scientific Family
Poaceae
Synonyms
Aira pumila, Catabrosa pumila
Plant type
Grasses
Riparian
No

Grass Description

Origin
Introduced
Season
Cool
Warm

Thrives in lawns, gardens, cultivated crops, roadsides, open areas, moist waste places.

Plant Community
Desert Scrub
Disturbed Areas
Grasslands
Low elevation
3000
High elevation
5600

General Description

Flattened stems are spreading or erect. The stems are short, from 2 to 12 inches long, and the plant is characterized by its dense, low clumps.

Prostrate annual with bright green soft lax blades that have the typical Poa boat-shaped tips; spikelets 3 to 6 flowered; lemmas with a few long hairs, but not webbed at their base.

Grass type
Annual
Rhizomes
No
Stolons
Yes
Clump Diameter 2 ft or more
No
Bushy - highly branched
Yes
Height with Seedheads
Less than 12 inches
Seedhead Structure
Branched - contracted
Seedhead droops
No
First bloom month
March
Last bloom month
August

Flower Characteristics

Flowers per Spikelet
Multi-flowered
Spikelets One-Sided
No
Awns
Absent
Three Awns
No
Awns bent
No
Flower and Seedhead Notes

Seedheads are pyramidal with spreading branches. The flower head is triangular to egg shaped and it branches more than once, is often pale, and at times, bright green to purplish. 3 to 8 flowers per laterally compressed spikelet.

Vegetative Characteristics

Blade is hairy
No
Blade margins white
No
Blade cross-section
Flat

Leaves are bright green, wide, flat and soft with the tip curved and prow-like.

Sheath is hairy
No
Tufts of hair top of sheath or collar
No
Ligule
Membranous
Auricles
No

It is one of the sweetest grasses for green fodder, but less useful than hay.