Tussock Poa

Photos of Tussock Poa

Family: Grass (Poaceae syn. Gramineae)

Scientific Name:

Poa labiilardierei

Tussock Poa plant
Photo: A J Brown

Other Common Names:

Poa Tussock, Tussock Grass, Common Tussock-grass, Large Tussock-grass, Silver Tussock-grass, River Tussock

Status:

Australian native

Plant Description:

Tufted perennial grass to 130 cm tall with flat to inrolled, hairless, slightly rough, fairly rigid, leaf blades to 80 cm long and 3.5 mm wide. Flower-heads are open and spreading panicles to 25 cm long and 15 cm wide. Each spikelet contains 3-5 green or purplish florets which are hairy along the lower part of their keeled backs and have a ‘web’ of finely tangled hairs at their bases.

Habitat:

A common grass across the wetter parts of Victoria, occurring on alluvial flats and stream sides, where it may be the dominant component of the vegetation. Generally indicative of fresh-water habitat but some undescribed varieties appear to have some salt tolerance.

Region	Salinity Class	Waterlogging Class
Central and Northern, Western, Gippsland	S0	W1, W2

Comments:

Poa is a large world-wide grass genus with at least 30 species, both native and introduced, represented in Victoria. Tussock Poa is very similar to Blue Tussock-grass (Poa poiformis) which is found close to the coast. Tussock Poa differs from Blue Tussock-grass in having mid-green leaves that are rather rough to the feel and usually flat and an open flower-head, whereas the latter almost always has bluish, inrolled and rather smooth leaves with somewhat contracted panicles. Other smaller Poa’s of wet habitats include Annual Poa (Poa annua), Kentucky Blue-grass (Poa pratensis), Salt-lake Tussock-grass (Poa sallacustris) and Wind-flattened Tussock-grass (Poa physoclina).

Photos of Tussock Poa

Flower-head of Tussock Poa Photo: A J Brown	Tussock base of Tussock Poa Photo: A J Brown
Spikelets of Tussock Poa with exserted anthers Photo: A J Brown	Leaves of Tussock Poa Photo: A J Brown
Tussock Poa spikelets Photo: A J Brown

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