Water Bent - introduced (*Polypogon viridis)

Native to Asia, Africa and Europe. Annual. C3.

Occurrence. A grass of wet areas.

Identification:

• the flower cluster is a moderately dense spray
• the glumes are longer than the lemmas
• the unawned lemmas have small teeth at the apex
• the leaves are flat
• the ligules are membranous, to 5mm long, and squared at the tip.

It resembles a compact-flowered Agrostis or Lachnagrostis in that it has a small spikelets (1.5-2.5mm) with a single, thin-walled lemma, which is smaller than the glumes. The spikelets fall off entire i.e. with the glumes and lemma together. Uncommon, recorded from only a few places in Victoria.

It differs from other Polypogon species in that the glumes are not awned.

poly: many; pogon: beard, referring to the awned glumes (of other Polypogon species); viridis: green.

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