Phleum pratense

Tufted, usually 5-10 dm, the culms somewhat bulbous-thickened at base, minutely scabrous at the summit; upper sheaths terete, not dilated; blades ordinarily 5-8 mm wide, rough-margined; infl cylindric, (3-)5-10(-15) cm נ5-8 mm; glumes 2-3.2 mm, abruptly rounded-truncate to an awn 0.7-1.5 mm, hispidulous-ciliate on the keel, with thin, pale or green margins; 2n=14, 21, 28-84. Native of Europe, cult. for hay and pasture, escaped and naturalized throughout most of the U.S. and s. Can.

Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

©The New York Botanical Garden. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

FNA 2007, Cronquist et al. 1977, Kearney and Peebles 1969, Gould 1980

Common Name: timothy Duration: Perennial Nativity: Non-Native Lifeform: Graminoid General: Tufted perennial with stems 50-100 cm tall with lower internodes enlarged or bulbous. Vegetative: Sheaths not inflated with occasionally present auricles but inconspicuous, blades to 45 cm long, 4-8 mm wide, flat and scabrous margins, ligules obtuse 2-4 mm. Inflorescence: Panicle 4-10 cm long, 5-7. 5 mm wide, compressed-cylindrical, 5-20 times as long as wide, not tapering at apex; branches adnate to rachises, spikelets 1-flowers, elliptic; glumes subequal, 2-4 mm long, truncate, with an awn and keel strongly pectinate, awn 1-1.5 mm, lemma 1.5-2 mm long, ovate, truncate and erose, faintly 5-nerved, sometimes with a minute awn. Ecology: Found in moist woodlands, grasslands, along streambanks, and meadows from 4,000-9,000 ft (1219-2134 m); flowers June-September. Notes: This is an escaped pasture grass that is now widespread. Ethnobotany: Used as a fodder, and the stems were made into hair brushes. Etymology: Phleum is from Greek phleos, a name for a kind of swamp grass,while pratense means growing in meadows. Synonyms: Phleum nodosum, Phleum pratense subsp. nodosum, Phleum pratense var. nodosum Editor: SBuckley, 2010