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Western Wetland Flora

Field Office Guide to Plant Species

Timothy
Phleum pretense L.

JPG -- Species Photo JPG -- Distribution Map

Family: Grass (Gramineae)
Flowering: June-September
Field Marks: This grass is readily recognized by its slender, cylindrical spikes, its conspicuous jagged-tipped ligules, and its awned, ciliate glumes.
Habitat: Along streams, moist woods, meadows, disturbed areas.
Habit: Tufted perennial grass with fibrous roots.
Stems: Upright, unbranched, hollow, somewhat swollen at the base, up to 4 1/2 feet tall, without hairs.
Leaves: Elongated, flat, up to 1/3 inch wide, rough along the edges; ligules up to 1/4 inch long, jagged at the tip.
Flowers: Many 1-flowered spikelets crowded into a continuous cylindrical spike up to 6 inches long and less than 1/2 inch wide; spikelets elliptic, up to 1/8 inch long; glumes awned and with cilia; lemma minutely hairy.
Sepals: 0.
Petals: 0.
Stamens: 3.
Pistils: Ovary superior, smooth.
Grains: Ellipsoid, smooth.
Notes: This is a valuable grass for hay and for foraging by cattle. It is native of Europe, but has been extensively cultivated in the United States.

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U.S. Department of the Interior | U.S. Geological Survey
URL: http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/plants/florawe/species/2/phleprat.htm
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Page Last Modified: Saturday, 02-Feb-2013 06:24:06 EST
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