categoryZGrasses Grasses List 

ANNUAL BEARD-GRASS

Polypogon monspeliensis

(Formerly: Polypogon paniceus)
Grasses Family [Poaceae]

month8jun month8june month8jul month8july month8aug

category
category8Grasses
 
status
statusZnative
 
petals
petalsZ0
 
type
typeZspiked
 
stem
stem8round
 
stem
stem8ribbed
slightly
rarity
rarityZscarce
 
sex
sexZbisexual
 

21st June 2015, nr Railway, Wokingham, Berks. Photo: © Bastiaan Brak
An annual grass which grows to 60 to 80cm high.


21st June 2015, nr Railway, Wokingham, Berks. Photo: © Bastiaan Brak
The inflorescences at the summit are between 2 to 10cm long and quite broad too.


21st June 2015, nr Railway, Wokingham, Berks. Photo: © Bastiaan Brak
The inflorescences are so wide as to easily catch the wind, as here where at the front most are blurred.


14th July 2015, resrs, Maldon, Essex. Photo: (CC by 2.0) Geoff Toone
It likes to grow on damp, bare trampled ground, near the sea, but will grow inland.


21st June 2015, nr Railway, Wokingham, Berks. Photo: © Bastiaan Brak
The inflorescence is dense, yellowish-green and feels silky as slipped through the hand.


21st June 2015, nr Railway, Wokingham, Berks. Photo: © Bastiaan Brak
The awns are long and white and surround the inflorescence in a white haze.


21st June 2015, nr Railway, Wokingham, Berks. Photo: © Bastiaan Brak


21st June 2015, nr Railway, Wokingham, Berks. Photo: © Bastiaan Brak
The leaves are flat, rough to the touch, and between 2 to 8mm wide. The upper sheaths are a bit inflated.


21st June 2015, nr Railway, Wokingham, Berks. Photo: © Bastiaan Brak
The pale-fawn ligule associated with each leaf is long, between 3 and 15mm long. The book says it is also toothed, but your Author cannot see any teeth here, they must be minute! The grass stems are round, and only slightly ribbed.


13th July 2009, sandpit, Sandown, IOW. Photo: (CC by 2.0) Geoff Toone
The inflorescences going to seed.


13th July 2009, sandpit, Sandown, IOW. Photo: (CC by 2.0) Geoff Toone
The inflorescences are cylindrical and dense.


13th July 2009, sandpit, Sandown, IOW. Photo: (CC by 2.0) Geoff Toone
The spikelets, best seen at the start of the inflorescence, are 2 to 3mm long and have just one flower.


13th July 2009, sandpit, Sandown, IOW. Photo: (CC by 2.0) Geoff Toone
The stem, here with maybe 6 ribs, and a now brownish leaf peeling off, with the longish ligule here going up the green stem almost hidden the the left side of the stem.


13th July 2009, sandpit, Sandown, IOW. Photo: (CC by 2.0) Geoff Toone
The two-pronged spikelet, 2 to 3mm long with a long thin glume 3.5 to 7mm long coming from the end of each one. The smallest squares on the grid paper are 1mm each side. [The glumes are not related to Ron and Eth in the radio comedy called 'The Glums']


13th July 2009, sandpit, Sandown, IOW. Photo: (CC by 2.0) Geoff Toone
Each spikelet has a long thin glume extending 4 to 7mm (up to 10mm). There is also a third thin wiry object called a lemma which is much smaller at 1 to 1.5mm which also has an awn which is either absent or up to 1.5mm long. Your Author thinks the small object at the bottom right are the seeds, one of which still nestles in the 'crutch' of the top right spikelet.


Not to be semantically confused with : Goatsbear (Tragopogon pratensis) or Old Man's Beard aka Traveller's-Joy (Clematis vitalba) [plants with similar names belonging to differing families].

Uniquely identifiable characteristics

Distinguishing Feature : The dense and wide (but nearly cylindrical) inflorescence with many long glumes surrounding it in a wiry haze.

It likes to grow near native the sea, in the drier areas of saltmarshes or other damp places by the sea such as brackish pools, ditches or bare trampled ground. Inland it is a casual. It is found between the coastal areas of Norfolk and Dorset.

THere also exists Southern Beard-grass (Polypogon maritimus) which is shorter at 30cm high and has hairy leaves. It is not native, but rather a wool and grain-alien which is found in waste places, being very scattered in Central England - not near the sea as its botanical name might suggest...

Yet another close relative is Water Bent (Polypogon viridis) which has no is a naturalised-neophyte found on roadsides and rough grounds in Jersey and Guernsey, and also on rubbish tips and waste grounds as a casual almost anywhere in the South and Central England.


  Polypogon monspeliensis  ⇐ Global Aspect ⇒ Poaceae  

Distribution
 family8Grasses family8Poaceae
 BSBI maps
genus8Polypogon
Polypogon
(Beard-Grasses)

ANNUAL BEARD-GRASS

Polypogon monspeliensis

(Formerly: Polypogon paniceus)
Grasses Family [Poaceae]