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Poa pratensis
Also called Kentucky Bluegrass, English Meadow Grass, Smooth Stalked Meadow Grass, Meadow Grass, Speargrass, Wintergrass, Blue Grass
Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis) is a spreading perennial grass that forms dense turf and pasture, widely grown as a lawn grass in cool, humid regions. Grow it in full sun or light shade with regular water and fertile, well-drained soil.
Poa pratensis, commonly known as Kentucky bluegrass (or blue grass), smooth meadow-grass, or common meadow-grass, is a perennial species of grass native to practically all of Europe, North Asia and the mountains of Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia. There is disagreement about its native status in North America, with some sources considering it native and others stating the Spanish Empire brought the seeds of Kentucky bluegrass to the New World in mixtures with other grasses. It is a very popular lawn grass in North America with the species being spread over all of the cool, humid parts of the United States. In its native range, Poa pratensis forms a valuable pasture plant, characteristic of well-drained, fertile soil.
The Central Kentucky Blue Grass Seed Company Building is on the National Register of Historic Places. Since the 1950s and early 1960s, 90% of Kentucky bluegrass seed in the United States has been produced on specialist farms in Idaho, Oregon and Washington.
During the 1990s, botanists began experimenting with hybrids of Poa pratensis and Texas bluegrass (P. arachnifera), with the goal of creating a drought and heat-resistant lawn grass. In warm climates, such hybrids may remain green year-round.
Poa pratensis is among the food plants of the caterpillars of the meadow brown (Maniola jurtina), gatekeeper (Pyronia tithonus), and pepper-and-salt skipper butterflies; the common sun beetle (Amara aenea) (adults feed on the developing seeds), the leafhopper Eupelix cuspidata, the grassbug Myrmus miriformis (feeds on young blades and developing seeds), and the club-horned grasshopper (Aeropedellus clavatus) (feeds on the blades, seeds, and glumes).
Annual Meadow Grass · Texas bluegrass · Arctic bluegrass · Fowl bluegrass · Sandberg bluegrass · Bluegrass
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Poa pratensis 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.
