Holcus mollis
L. Creeping FogRhizomatous perennial, culms ascending to erect, to 1 m high. Leaves velvety to almost glabrous, smooth or scabrous, greyish-green; blade to 20 cm long and 3–12 mm wide; ligule obtuse, 1–5 mm long. Inflorescence an narrowly ovate panicle, to c. 12 cm long. Spikelets 2-flowered, 4–6.5 mm long; glumes subequal, enclosing florets, papery, with short hairs along nerves, the upper broader and sometimes slightly longer than lower; lemma of lower floret 2.5–3 mm long, awnless, upper lemma usually slightly shorter than lower and with a straight to geniculate subapical awn 3–5 mm long, clearly exserted from beyond the glumes. Flowers Dec.–Feb.
GipP, OtP, DunT, Strz, VAlp. Also naturalised in NSW, Tas., North America, New Zealand. Native to Europe. Known from a few old records in the far south-west, Leongatha and Moe areas (1905, 1921, 1965 respectively) and from ski runs at Falls Ck (2015). It is know as a serious weed elsehwere, particularly in sandy soils, readily propagating from fragments of the strong rhizomes left in the ground e.g after cultivation.
Walsh, N.G. (1994). Poaceae. In: Walsh, N.G.; Entwisle, T.J., Flora of Victoria Vol. 2, Ferns and Allied Plants, Conifers and Monocotyledons, pp. 356–627. Inkata Press, Melbourne.
