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Annual Fog
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Family Name: Grass (Poaceae syn. Gramineae) |
| Scientific Name: | Holcus annuus |  Flower-head of Annual Fog Photo: A J Brown |
Status: | Native to southern Europe and northern Africa. | |
Plant Description: | A slender, annual grass to 40 cm high but often less. Leaves are softly hairy and flat, to 10 cm long and 1-5 mm wide. Flower-head is a contracted, oblong to ovate, panicle of 2-8 cm long with 2 flowered spikelets. Outer glumes or bracts of the spikeletsare equal in size; 3-4.5 mm long, with a fine apical awn or bristle, 2-4 mm long, enclosing the florets. The lower bisexual floret is awnless while the upper sterile floret has a strongly bent awn to 2 mm long. | |
Habitat: | Mainly a grass of the drier midlands of Victoria but common on seasonally wet freshwater and saline swamp and lake margins. | |
Comments: | Superficially similar to other small annual grasses with contracted panicles, such as Avellinia (Avellinia michelii) and Annual Cat’s-tail (Rostraria cristata). A much smaller and less robust grass than Yorkshire Fog (Holcus lanatus). |
