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Dactylis glomerata
Also called Cocksfoot, Orchardgrass, Orchard Grass, Barnyard Grass, Cat Grass, Cocksfoot Grass, Cockspur
Cock's-foot is a tufted cool-season perennial grass grown mainly as hay and pasture forage, and it is also commonly found in meadows and roadsides. It thrives in cool, sunny to lightly shaded spots and needs regular grazing or cutting to stay palatable.
Dactylis glomerata is a species of flowering plant in the grass family Poaceae, commonly known as barnyard grass, cocksfoot grass, cockspur, orchard grass, or cat grass (due to its popularity for use with domestic cats). It is a cool-season perennial C3 tufted grass native throughout most of Europe, temperate Asia, and northern Africa.
Cock's-foot is widely used as a hay grass and for pastures because of its high yields and sugar content, which makes it sweeter than most other temperate grasses. In dry areas as in much of Australia, Mediterranean subspecies such as subsp. hispanica are preferred for their greater drought tolerance. It requires careful grazing management; if it is undergrazed it becomes coarse and unpalatable.
In some areas to which it has been introduced, cock's-foot has become an invasive weed, notably some areas of the eastern United States.
Dactylis glomerata occurs from sea level in the north of its range, to as high as 4,000 metres in elevation in the south of its range in Pakistan. It is widely used for hay and forage.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Dactylis glomerata by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
