Annual meadow grass

Scientific Name: Poa annua L. 

Family: Poaceae

MORPHOLOGY

Habit and dimensions: A plant with a highly variable appearance, annual or short-lived perennial, ranging from 5 to 30 cm in height, with a more or less bright green color.

Stems: Cylindrical or nearly cylindrical stems, not swollen at the base, clustered, mostly kneeling-ascending, rarely rooting at the lower nodes.

Leaves: Leaves with smooth and compressed sheath, thin blade of 2-3 mm, and truncate ligule of 0.5 mm, which becomes more prominent (1 mm and beyond) in sterile shoots.

Flowers: Pyramid-shaped or loose panicle, sparse, wide, unilateral, 1.5-2 times its own width, green-reddish, with paired lower branches, smooth, spreading after anthesis. Spikelets are oval-lanceolate, 3-10 mm long with 3-5 closely appressed flowers. Blooms all year round.

Fruits and seeds: The fruits are caryopses.

DISTRIBUTION AND HABITAT

Present throughout Italy in uncultivated land, gardens, roadside edges, frequently found between asphalt cracks and sidewalk joints. From 0 to 2,000 m, rarely up to 2,700 m.

USE

Despite Poa annua being one of the five most widespread plants in the world, the only known use for this plant seems to be its use in the creation of turfgrass, especially for golf courses.

INTERESTING FACTS

The pollen of this plant is allergenic.

Photo: under the free license of Saxifraga and Rutger Barends, Jan van der Straaten