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GRASSES OF THE COLUMBIA BASIN OF BRITISH COLUMBIA Heather Stewart, Richard Hebda Major Groups of Grasses Table of Contents Glossary Polypogon Beardgrass This small Old World genus derives its name for the poly = many long glume awns, which give the flowerhead a pogon = beardlike texture. Polypogon monspeliensis (L.) Desf. Rabbitfoot Polypogon Annual Beardgrass Plant: Polypogon monspeliensis is an introduced species that grows to 20-70 cm tall. It is a tufted annual with a dense "fuzzy" egg-shaped flowerhead. Leaves and Stem: The stem is often bent along the ground and rooting when growing in standing water. Open sheaths are smooth to rough to the touch. There are no auricles. The ligules are 3-10 mm long, membranelike and have short, rough hairs. The ligule shape varies from narrow with a short point to blunt with a ragged tip. The leaf blades are flat, 4-7 mm wide and rough. Flowerhead and Flowers: The dense "fuzzy" flowerhead reaches 2-15 cm long. Spikelets are one-flowered and cluster in a dense, tight flowerhead. The roughened glumes are tawny with age and awned from between short, rounded lobes at the tip. The glume awn is 6-10 mm long. The lemma is about half as long as the glumes, smooth and shining and toothed at the rounded tip. The lemma awn is slender and exceeds the glumes by as much as 1.5 mm. Habitat: Rabbitfoot Polypogon grows in wet to dry waste places and around the edges of vernal pools. In the Columbia Basin region Rabbitfoot Polypogon occurs at Windermere, Kimberley and Marysville. Similar Species: The plump fuzzy head of the species is diagnostic, and should not be confused with any other species.

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