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Poa annua

Species of plant

Poa annua
Summary

Species of plant

Poa annua, or annual meadow grass (known in America more commonly as annual bluegrass or simply poa), is a widespread low-growing turfgrass in temperate climates. Notwithstanding the reference to annual plant in its name, perennial bio-types do exist. This grass originated as a hybrid between Poa supina and Poa infirma. Major chromosomal rearrangements after polyploidy have contributed to variation in genome size in Poa annua.

''Poa annua'' as a weed in city and urban ecosystems
''Poa annua'' as a turfgrass for use on golf course putting greens

Description

It has a slightly creeping, fibrous, rootstock. The stem grows from 15–25 cm high. It is slightly flattened, due to being folded rather than rolled.

The panicle is open and triangular shaped, 5–7.5 cm long. The spikelets are stalked, awnless, 1–2 cm long when flowering, and loosely arranged on delicate paired or spreading branches. Sometimes they are tinged purple.

The vivid green leaves are short and blunt at the tips, shaped like the prow of a small canoe. They are soft and drooping. Long sheaths clasp the stem. The leaves are smooth above and below, with finely serrated edges. Occasionally the leaves are serrated transversely.

The ligule is pointed and silvery, in comparison to common meadowgrass (Poa pratensis), which has a squared ligule, and Poa trivialis, which has a pointed, but less silvery ligule.

The leaves are smooth above and below, with finely serrated edges. Occasionally the leaves are serrated transversely.

It is in flower all year around except for severe winters. The seeds ripen and are deposited 8 months of the year. The plant grows rapidly from seed, flowering within 6 weeks, seeding and then dying.

Etymology

Poa is derived from the Greek name for a type of fodder grass. Annua is Latin, meaning 'annual' or 'lasting a year'.

Distribution and habitat

It is a common weed of cultivation, known in the Americas as annual bluegrass.{{cite web | access-date =2007-09-08 }} It occurs as a common constituent of lawns, where it is also often treated as a weed, and grows on waste ground. Many golf putting greens, including the Oakmont Country Club greens, are annual bluegrass, although many courses have converted to creeping bentgrass (Agrostis stolonifera).

It has appeared on King George Island in the Antarctic South Shetland Islands as an invasive species, as well as on Australia's subantarctic Heard and Macquarie Islands.

Poa annua.jpg|Habit Straatgras tongetje (Poa annua ligula).jpg|Ligule is silvery and pointed. Poa.annua.jpg|The panicle is open and triangular shaped Poa.annua.2.jpg|Flowers Poa annua on a footpath. 24 Oktoberplein, Utrecht, The Netherlands, May 20, 2018.jpg|Clump of Poa annua on footpath stones

References

References

  1. Brummitt, N.. (2013). "''Annual meadow grass''".
  2. (2003-12-19). "Poa Annua: Physiology, Culture, and Control of Annual Bluegrass". John Wiley & Sons.
  3. Collins pocket guide Grasses, Sedges, Rushes and Ferns. Fitter.R, Fitter.A, Farrer.A. 1995. page 54
  4. (2023-06-26). "Homoeologous evolution of the allotetraploid genome of Poa annua L". BMC Genomics.
  5. [http://www.bsbi.org.uk/identification.html BSBI Description] {{webarchive. link. (2011-07-17 retrieved 10 December 2010.)
  6. Gledhill, David (2008). "The Names of Plants". Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN. 9780521866453 (hardback), {{ISBN. 9780521685535 (paperback). pp 50, 308
  7. Dvorchak, Robert. (2007-06-13). "Oakmont-inspired Stimpmeter allows USGA to accurately measure speed, consistency of putting surfaces". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
  8. [https://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2012/03/antarctic-ecology Antarctic ecology: Polar invaders], [[The Economist]], Mar 6th 2012
Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

poa flora-of-europe flora-of-africa flora-of-temperate-asia flora-of-tropical-asia garden-plants-of-europe lawn-grasses plants-described-in-1753 botanical-taxa-named-by-carl-linnaeus grasses-of-lebanon
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