Tall Meadow Oat Grass

Tall Meadow Oat Grass (Arrhenatherum avenaceum), or Tall Oat Grass is the avena elatior of Linnaeus. It has open panicled spikelets. The grass is two-flowered, the lower flower staminate, bearing a long bent awn below the middle of the back. The leaves are flat, acute and roughish on both sides. The panicle leans slightly to one side and the glumes are very unequal. The stems grow from two to three feet high with a perennial fibrous root that is sometimes bulbous. It is distinguished from other grasses by having two florets, the lower one having a long awn rising from a little above the base of the base of the outer palea. The grass flowers from May to July. A magnified spikelet is shown here.

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