Species

Poa annua

Etymology

Poa: meadow grass
annua: From the Latin annuus 'year', referring to a plant which completes its life cycle in a single year

Common Name(s)

annual poa

Authority

Poa annua L.

Family

Poaceae

Flora Category

Vascular - Exotic

NVS Species Code

POAANN

The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.

Structural Class

Grasses

Habitat

Prevalent in lawns and gardens, particularly those with moist, rich soils (Wax, Fawcett and Isely 1981). A weed of cultivated land and waste places.

Similar Taxa

Roots, shallow, easily pulled from the soil. Stems, 2.5 to 30 cm tall, decumbent at base, sometimes rooting at lower joints. (Wax, Fawcett and Isely 1981)

Year Naturalised

1844

Origin

Europe

Reason For Introduction
Agricultural

Life Cycle Comments
Annual

Tolerances
Grows well in cool weather but is not winter hardy (Wax, Fawcett and Isely 1981).

This page last updated on 29 Mar 2010