Plant. Photo: Malcolm Storey, Berkshire, England

Plant and seeds. Line drawing in Hitchcock, A.S. (rev. A. Chase). 1950. Manual of the grasses of the United States

Common Name

Annual Beardgrass, Beardgrass

Family

Poaceae

Notes

Introduced annual grass to 1m tall or sprawling. Leaves with a hairless sheath at the base. Ligule a membrane without a fringe of hairs. Leaves flat, 1.5-32cm long, 1-11mm wide, hairless, rough in larger plants. Spikelets pale green or yellowish, 1-3mm long. Flowerhead oval to cylindrical. Seeds with 2 awns to 9mm long on the outer husks, and sometimes a third awn to 3mm long on the actual seed.

Description and photo in G.M. Cunningham, WE Mulham, PL Milthorpe and J H Leigh (1981 and later printings) Plants of Western New South Wales pages 135-136

PlantNET description with line drawings:   http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Polypogon~monspeliensis

ausgrass2 description with line drawings and photos:   http://ausgrass2.myspecies.info/content/Polypogon-monspeliensis