JUNE GRASS
File Size: 149 KB
 
Koeleria macrantha   (Ledeb. ) J.A. Schultes
[=Koeleria pyramidata  (Lam. ) Beauv.]
Riley County, Kansas
Perennial
Height: 8-24 inches
Family: Poaceae - Grass Family
Flowering Period:   May, June, July
Culms: Erect, hollow, finely hairy below inflorescences.
Blades: Mostly basal, flat or rolled inward, 1 to 7 inches long, about 1/10 inch wide, erect or stiffly ascending, glabrous or hairy, finely ribbed beneath, coarsely ribbed above; tips boat-shaped.
Sheaths: Mostly longer than internodes, distinctly veined, lower portion hairy, collar margins long-hairy.
Ligules: Membranous, whitish, irregularly notched.
Inflorescences: Panicles, dense, erect, 1.5 to 6 inches tall, sometimes interrupted, tapered toward tips, minutely hairy; branches spreading or ascending at flowering, contracting later.
Spikelets: 2-4-flowered, flattened laterally, to 1/4 inch long; glumes about equal in length, unlike in shape; lemmas slightly longer than glumes; tips pointed, rarely awned.
Habitat: Dry upland prairies and open woods.
Distribution: Throughout except southwest corner of Kansas.
Forage Value: June grass is a good forage grass but plants usually are scattered, leading to low utilization by livestock.
Comments: Tufted. June grass varies greatly in size, inflorescence shape, and amount of pubescence. June grass was named for Georg Ludwig Koeler, (1765-1807), a professor in Germany and a student of grasses.

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