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Poaceae FAMILY

Poa annua

Poa annua

Edibility
0/5
Medicinal
0/5

Safety & Hazards

None known

Cultivation Details

HabitAnnual
Growth—

A very easily grown plant, it succeeds in any well-drained moderately fertile soil in a sunny position[1]. Tolerates very acid soils[1]. This plant is a very common garden weed and will not usually require cultivation. An important food plant for the caterpillars of many species of butterfly[2]. It is often found growing in close cut lawns[1]. Plants perennating by short stolons rooting at the nodes appear to develop repeatedly but sporadically at various elevations with prolonged, cool, mesic growing conditions, possibly in response to trampling. These are sometimes placed in var. reptans[3]. The seed drops very readily from the plant so it is difficult to harvest[1]. This also means that the seed is spread very easily, making the plant even more difficult to eradicate[PFAF].

Propagation

Seed - there should be no problem with having to sow this plant since it does the job very effectively without our help. Cite as: Temperate Plants Database, Ken Fern. temperate.theferns.info. 2026-02-21. <temperate.theferns.info/plant/Poa+annua>

Pollinators

Wind, Self, cleistogamous

References

  1. [1]RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956 — F. Chittendon. · Oxford University Press · 1951 · ISBN - ↩︎Comprehensive listing of species and how to grow them. Somewhat outdated, it has been replaced in 1992 by a new dictionary (see [ 200 ]).
  2. [2]Butterflies and Moths in Britain and Europe. — Carter D. · Pan · 1982 · ISBN 0-330-26642-x ↩︎An excellent book on Lepidoptera, it also lists their favourite food plants.
  3. [3]Flora of China — Missouri Botanical Garden Press; St. Louis. · 1994 · http://flora.huh.harvard.edu/china/ ↩︎An excellent, comprehensive resource in 25 volumes. In addition to the botanical information the flora also gives basic information on habitat and some uses. An on-line version is also available.
  4. [4]Flora of the British Isles. — Clapham, Tutin and Warburg. · Cambridge University Press · 1962 · ISBN - ↩︎A very comprehensive flora, the standard reference book but it has no pictures.
  5. [PFAF]Plants for a Future — pfaf.org ↩︎