Scientific Family
Poaceae
Other common names
English bluegrass
wiregrass
flat stem bluegrass
Plant type
Grasses
Riparian
Yes
Grass Description
Origin
Introduced
Season
Warm
Riparian areas, wet meadows, roadsides, cultivated areas, disturbed habitats.
Plant Community
Disturbed Areas
Riparian
Low elevation
5000
High elevation
8500
General Description
Introduced perennial, usually with solitary shoots, sometimes loosely tufted; bluish-green, hairless herbage; extensively rhizomatous.
Seedhead stem is conspicuously flattened, 2-edged. The seedhead is a rather dense, contracted panicle. Creeping rhizomes are present.
Grass type
Perennial bunchgrass
Rhizomes
Yes
Stolons
No
Clump Diameter 2 ft or more
No
Bushy - highly branched
No
Height with Seedheads
12 inches or more
Seedhead Structure
Branched - contracted
Seedhead droops
No
First bloom month
June
Last bloom month
September
Flower Characteristics
Flowers per Spikelet
Multi-flowered
Spikelets One-Sided
No
Awns
Absent
Three Awns
No
Awns bent
No
Flower and Seedhead Notes
Seedhead are 3/4 to 4 inches tall, generally 1/6 to 1/3 as wide as long, erect, linear, with 15 to 80 spikelets and mostly with 1 to 3 branches per node.
Vegetative Characteristics
Blade is hairy
No
Blade margins white
No
Blade cross-section
Flat
Folded
Leaves are mostly along the stem, 3/4 to 4-3/4 inches long, 1/16 to 3/16 inches wide, flat or folded, smooth or minutely rough.
Sheath is hairy
No
Tufts of hair top of sheath or collar
No
Ligule
Membranous and hairy
Auricles
No
It is consumed by livestock, deer and elk, but does not produce abundant forage.