Timothy grass

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Timothy grass
Timothy grass (Phleum pratense)

Timothy grass ( Phleum pratense )

Systematics
Monocots
Commelinids
Order : Sweet grass (Poales)
Family : Sweet grasses (Poaceae)
Genre : Timothy grass ( phleum )
Type : Timothy grass
Scientific name
Phleum pratense
L.

The timothy grass ( Phleum pratense ) is a species from the timothy grass genus within the sweet grass family . It is also known as timothy grass and is also often found in the trade as bird or cat grass.

description

The timothy grass is a persistent, loose clump- forming grass. It rarely forms runners. The stature height of the hollow stalks is 30 to 100 centimeters. The stalk has three to five knots and tastes sweet. The leaf blade is light blue-green and becomes three to 8 millimeters wide and 6 to 40 centimeters long. The ligule on the upper leaves becomes 5 millimeters long. The timothy grass has a false ear up to 30 centimeters long , which is upright or slightly curved. The individual spikelets are three to four millimeters long and are whitish-blue-green, rarely tinged with purple.

The flowering period extends from June to September.

Chromosome number: 2n = 42.

Illustration of timothy grass ( Phleum pratense , right); left phleum phleoides
inflorescence
Timothy grass ( Phleum pratense )

Location preferences

Meadows, pastures, park lawns and roadsides are preferred as locations, more rarely also forests and as a pioneer plant in weed communities (ruderal locations). The timothy grass loves nutrient-rich, moderately moist, medium to heavy soils.

distribution

The species occurs from Europe to the western Himalayas and to Siberia; it also thrives in the Azores and Morocco. In East Asia and America and other countries it is a neophyte. In Germany the species occurs frequently and rises in the Black Forest up to 1490 meters and in the Alps mostly up to 1650 meters. In the Allgäu Alps in Vorarlberg near the Kanzelwandhaus near Riezlern , it rises up to 2000 meters above sea level. In Austria it is often in all federal states. It is often cultivated.

ecology

The timothy grass is a hemicryptophyte , a clump grass and a long-day plant with a critical day length of less than 12 hours.

The flowers are windy of the "long-dust thread type". The spikelet is single-flowered and female . The flowering period extends from June to September.

The fruits are caryopses , which are spread out together with the glumes as wind spreaders. Since the glumes on the back are ciliate with stiff hairs, this also enables the fruits to spread as Velcro, water-like and animal shakers. Fruit ripening is from August to October. The caryopses are light germs .

Timothy grass, which is insensitive to footsteps, is a characteristic of the fatty meadows and white clover willows (Arrhenatheretalia)

This species is an important top grass in field forage cultivation, it provides high quality, very hardy forage grass, which, however, lignifies early. As long as it is young, cattle like to eat it. The hay is heavy and rich in nutrients. It is best suited for sowing with meadow clover and Swedish clover .

It is insensitive to cold, wet, heavy soils and is used for building on drained moors . However, it is sensitive to drought and overshadowing.

Others

Ear of timothy grass with ergot

The name "Timothy grass" comes from Timothy Hanson, an American farmer who first popularized the grass as a fodder plant in the USA around 1720. Later (around 1765) it was brought to England from America. From there, the timothy came to Germany under this name. At that time it was believed that timothy grass was an American plant, but in fact it probably originally came from Eurasia and was only "re-imported" after Hanson discovered it as a fodder plant.

In addition to rye and English ryegrass , the pollen of the timothy grass are mainly responsible for hay fever . Since November 2006 a drug for specific immunotherapy has been available that contains allergens exclusively from the grass pollen of the timothy grass. It was the first drug for allergy vaccination in tablet form, but it was only effective for a specific grass allergy.

The timothy grass is sometimes attacked by ergot, also called ergot fungus , a sac fungus belonging to the ergot genus.

literature

  • Manfred A. Fischer , Wolfgang Adler, Karl Oswald: Excursion flora for Austria, Liechtenstein and South Tyrol. 2nd, improved and enlarged edition. State of Upper Austria, Biology Center of the Upper Austrian State Museums, Linz 2005, ISBN 3-85474-140-5 .
  • Hans Joachim Conert: Parey's grass book. Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-8263-3327-6 .
  • Ruprecht Düll , Herfried Kutzelnigg : Pocket dictionary of plants in Germany and neighboring countries. The most common Central European species in portrait. 7th, corrected and enlarged edition. Quelle & Meyer, Wiebelsheim 2011, ISBN 978-3-494-01424-1 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Rafaël Govaerts (ed.): Phleum pratense. In: World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (WCSP) - The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . Retrieved November 12, 2016.
  2. ↑ Erhard Dörr, Wolfgang Lippert : Flora of the Allgäu and its surroundings . Volume 1, IHW-Verlag, Eching near Munich 2001, ISBN 3-930167-50-6 , p. 154.

Web links

Commons : Timothy grass  - album with pictures, videos and audio files