Relatives
Phleum pratense L. - Meadow timothy.
Taxonomical position.
Family Poaceae Benth., genus Phleum L.Morphology and biology.
Long-term cereal. The plant is green and forms friable tussocks with short, creeping propagules. Stalks reach heights of 20-80 (100) cm and are frequently more or less beaded at the base. Leaves are flat, 3-5 (7) mm wide, sharply rough. The inflorescence is cylindrical, dense, 5-10 cm of long, 4-10 mm wide. Spikelet scales rough, 3-5 mm long, with cilia across the keel; the bottom floral scales are half as long as the spikelet scales. Blossoms in May-August. Anemophilous. 2n=14 (28).Distribution.
Occurs in the woods and the forest-steppe zone of the European part of the former USSR, the Caucasus, Western Siberia, Eastern Siberia up to Baikal, Northern Kazakhstan, Europe, Asia, and Northern Africa.Ecology.
Plant is a mesophyte. Grows in meadows, in wood glades, in rarefied woods, and sometimes is a weed in crops of grain cereals.Use and economic value.
It is a fodder plant.Reference citations:
Grossgheim A.A. 1939. Flora of the Caucasus. Vol. 2. Polypodiaceae-Gramineae. Baku: Publishing house AzFaN. 587 p.Malyshev L.I., Peshkova G.A., eds. 1979. Flora of Central Siberia. Vol. 1. Onocleaceae-Saxifragaceae. Novosibirsk: Nauka. 431 p.
Malyshev L.I., Peshkova G.A., eds. 1990. Flora of Siberia. Vol. 2. Poaceae (Gramineae). Novosibirsk: Nauka. 361 p.
Shelyag-Sosonko Yu.R., ed. 1977. Cereals of Ukraine. Kiev: Naukova Dumka. 518 p.
Tzvelev N.I., ed. 1974. Flora of the Northeast of the European part of the USSR. V. 1. Families Polypodiaceae-Gramineae. Leningrad: Nauka. 275 p.
Tzvelev N.N. 1976. Cereals of the USSR. Leningrad: Nauka. 788 p.