Polypogon monspeliensis
Polypogon imberbis
annual beard grass, annual rabbit's-foot grass, rabbit'sfootgrass, rabbitfoot beardgrass, rabbitfoot grass, rabbitfoot polypogon
beardless rabbitsfoot grass, shorthair beardgrass, streambank rabbits foot grass
5-65 (100) cm, erect to geniculately ascending.
15-80 cm, ascending or geniculate, not branched.
glabrous, the uppermost sheaths sometimes inflated;
ligules 2.5-16 mm;
blades 1-20 cm long, 1-7 mm wide.
smooth or scabrous;
ligules 2-5 mm, membranous or hyaline, sometimes retrorsely scabridulous;
blades 3-15 cm long, 1.5-8 mm wide, flat to convolute, scabrous, apices acute to sharp.
1-17 cm, narrowly ellipsoid, dense, sometimes lobed, greenish;
pedicels absent or to 0.2 mm;
stipes 0.1-0.2 mm.
3-25 cm long, 1-8 cm wide, dense, glomerate, interrupted near the base;
pedicels not developed;
stipes 0.6-1.5 mm.
1-2.7 mm, hispidulous throughout, largest prickles restricted to the lower 1/2, apices rounded, lobed, lobes 0.1-0.2 mm, 1/10 or less the length of the glume body, awned from the sinus, awns 4-10 mm, yellowish;
lemmas 0.5-1.5 mm, glabrous, awned, awns 0.5-1(4.5) mm;
paleas subequal to the lemmas;
anthers 0.2-1 mm.
1.8-4 mm, scabridulous on the sides, keels echinate, not tapering to the apices, apices acute, unlobed, awned, awns 0.2-2.5 mm;
lower glumes 1.8-4 mm;
upper glumes 1.6-3.5 mm, usually shorter than the lower glumes;
lemmas 1-2 mm, hyaline, unawned or awned, awns subterminal, to 1 mm;
paleas 0.5-0.8 mm, about 1/2 as long as the lemmas;
anthers 0.2-0.8 mm.
1-1.5 mm long, 0.3-0.4 mm wide.
= 14, 28, 35, 42.
= unknown.
Polypogon monspeliensis
Polypogon imberbis
Polypogon monspeliensis is native to southern Europe and Turkey. It is now a common weed throughout the world, including much of the Flora region. It grows in damp to wet, often alkaline soils, particularly in disturbed areas. Vernon Harms (pers. comm., 2005) commented that the species' distribution in Saskatchewan appears to have increased greatly since the 1970s. The English-language name aptly describes the feel of the young panicles.
In Europe, Polypogon monspeliensis hybridizes with Agrostis stolonifera, producing the sterile xAgropogon lutosus (p. 668); and with P. viridis, forming P. xadscendens Guss. ex Bertol. Only xAgropogon lutosus has been reported from the Flora region. It differs from P. monspeliensis in having more persistent spikelets, less blunt short-awned glumes, and lemmas with sub-terminal rather than terminal awns.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Polypogon imberbis is a South American species that has been collected at two locations in California, one from Oceano Beach, San Luis Obispo County, and the other near Martines, Contra Costa County. It does not appear to be established there, the last collections having been made before 1950. In South America, it grows in moist, sandy soils near streams, lagoons, and the coast.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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