- Poa
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Not to be confused with Poá.For other uses, see POA (disambiguation).
Poa 
Poa annua (Annual Meadow-grass) Scientific classification Kingdom: Plantae (unranked): Angiosperms (unranked): Monocots (unranked): Commelinids Order: Poales Family: Poaceae Subfamily: Pooideae Genus: Poa
L.Species About 500 species, see text.
Stem showing why it is called "bluegrass". The seed pods go from green to purplish blue to brown. During the purplish blue phase the seed stems have a navy blue coating.
Rough Meadow-grass Poa trivialis showing the ligule structurePoa[1] is a genus of about 500 species of grasses, native to the temperate regions of both hemispheres. Common names include meadow-grass (mainly Europe and Asia), bluegrass (mainly North America), tussock (some New Zealand species), and speargrass. "Poa" is Greek for fodder. Poa are members of the Pooideae subfamily of the Poaceae family.
Bluegrass, which has green leaves, derives its name from the seed heads which are blue when the plant is allowed to grow to its natural height of two to three feet.[2] Kentucky Bluegrass, Poa pratensis, is the type species of the family Poaceae.
The genus Poa includes both annual and perennial species. Most are monoecious, but a few are dioecious (separate male and female plants). The leaves are narrow, folded or flat, sometimes bristled, and with the basal sheath flattened or sometimes thickened, with a blunt or hooded apex and membranaceous ligule.
Contents
Cultivation and uses
Many of the species are important pasture plants, used extensively by grazing livestock. Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis) is the most extensively used cool-season grass used in lawns, sports fields, and golf courses in the United States.[3] Annual bluegrass (Poa annua) can sometimes be considered a weed.[4]
According to Galen the roots of certain species are good for treating fresh wounds and bleeding. In the sixteenth century Poa grasses were used for inflammation of the kidney.[5]
Some of the Poa species are popular for gardens and for landscaping in New Zealand.
Insect foodplant
Lepidoptera whose caterpillars feed on Poa include:
- Agriphila inquinatella
- Cercyonis pegala (Common Wood-nymph)
- Poanes hobomok (Hobomok Skipper)
- Poanes zabulon (Zabulon Skipper)
Species
Species include:
- Poa abbreviata - Short Bluegrass
- Poa alpigena - Northern Meadow-grass
- Poa alpina - Alpine Meadow-grass
- Poa alsodes - Grove Bluegrass
- Poa angustifolia - Narrow-leaved Meadow-grass
- Poa annua - Annual Meadow-grass, Annual Bluegrass
- Poa arachnifera - Texas Bluegrass
- Poa arctica - Arctic Meadow-grass
- Poa atropurpurea - San Bernardino Bluegrass
- Poa badensis
- Poa balfourii
- Poa bigelovii
- Poa bolanderi
- Poa bulbosa - Bulbous Meadow-grass
- Poa cita - Silver Tussock
- Poa chaixii - Broad-leaved Meadow-grass
- Poa chathamica
- Poa colensoi - Blue Tussock
- Poa compressa - Flattened Meadow-grass
- Poa confinis
- Poa cookii - Cook's Tussock
- Poa cynosuroides - Kusha grass
- Poa cusickii
- Poa diaboli - Diablo Canyon Bluegrass
- Poa douglasii - Douglas Bluegrass
- Poa dura
- Poa flabellata
- Poa flexuosa - Wavy Meadow-grass
- Poa foliosa - Muttonbird Poa
- Poa glauca - Glaucous Meadow-grass
- Poa howellii
- Poa humilis - Spreading Meadow grass
- Poa infirma - Early Meadow-grass
- Poa iridifolia
- Poa kelloggii
- Poa kerguelensis
- Poa labillardieri
- Poa leptocoma
- Poa macrantha
- Poa mannii
- Poa napensis - Napa Bluegrass
- Poa nemoralis - Wood Meadow-grass
- Poa palustris - Swamp Meadow-grass
- Poa pratensis - Smooth Meadow-grass, Kentucky bluegrass
- Poa sandvicensis
- Poa secunda - Sandberg's Bluegrass
- Poa siphonoglossa
- Poa subcaerulea - Spreading Meadow-grass
- Poa supina - Creeping Meadow-grass
- Poa trivialis - Rough Meadow-grass
- Poa unilateralis
Notes
- ^ From Greek πόα "grass, meadow."
- ^ What Makes Kentucky's Bluegrass Blue - New York Times - June 3, 1993
- ^ Dvorchak, Robert (June 13, 2007). "Oakmont-inspired Stimpmeter allows USGA to accurately measure speed, consistency of putting surfaces". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07164/793591-382.stm. Retrieved 2007-09-08.
- ^ Ohlendorf, B.; D. W. Cudney, Botany and Plant Sciences, UC Riverside; C. L. Elmore, Vegetable Crops/Weed Science, UC Davis; and V. A. Gibeault, Botany and Plant Sciences, UC Riverside (April, 2003). "Annual Bluegrass Management Guidelines--UC IPM". University of California. http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7464.html. Retrieved 2007-09-08.
- ^ Gerarde, John (1597). "The Herball or Generall Historie Of Plantes". http://caliban.mpiz-koeln.mpg.de/gerarde/high/IMG_0496.html. Retrieved 2009-01-11.
Categories:- Lawn grasses
- Poa
- Poaceae genera
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