Poa annua
Common name
annual poa
Family
Poaceae
Flora category
Vascular – Exotic
Structural class
Grasses
NVS code
The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.
POAANN
Conservation status
Not applicable
Habitat
Prevalent in lawns and gardens, particularly those with moist, rich soils (Wax, Fawcett and Isely 1981). A weed of cultivated land and waste places.
Wetland plant indicator status rating
Information derived from the revised national wetland plant list prepared to assist councils in delineating and monitoring wetlands (Clarkson et al., 2021 Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research Contract Report LC3975 for Hawke’s Bay Regional Council). The national plant list categorises plants by the extent to which they are found in wetlands and not ‘drylands’. The indicator status ratings are OBL (obligate wetland), FACW (facultative wetland), FAC (facultative), FACU (facultative upland), and UPL (obligate upland).
FACU: Facultative Upland
Occasionally is a hydrophyte but usually occurs in uplands (non-wetlands).
Similar taxa
Roots, shallow, easily pulled from the soil. Stems, 2.5 to 30 cm tall, decumbent at base, sometimes rooting at lower joints. (Wax, Fawcett and Isely 1981)
Year naturalised
1844
Origin
Europe
Etymology
poa: Meadow grass
annua: From the Latin annuus ‘year’, referring to a plant which completes its life cycle in a single year
Reason For Introduction
Agricultural
Life Cycle Comments
Annual
Tolerances
Grows well in cool weather but is not winter hardy (Wax, Fawcett and Isely 1981).