Holcus lanatus L.
A loosely to compactly tufted, softly downy perennial. Stems erect or ascending, 20 to 100 cm long, with downy nodes. Leaves softly hairy; linear lanceolate; up to 20cm long and up to 1cm wide. Ligule papery, 1 to 3 mm long. Inflorescence a dense or spreading panicle, with hairy branches, ovate to elliptical in outline, 3 to 20 cm long, with whitish to pinkish-purple spikelets. Spikelets with 2 florets, 3 to 5 mm long. Glumes 3 to 5 mm, ovate to elliptic, stiffly hairy on the keels and nerves, the upper one usually tipped with an awn up to 1mm long. Lemma 2 mm long, enclosed by the glumes, with an awn up to 2 mm long, becoming curved when dry.
Local:Rare in Gibraltar, found as a weed in cultivated plots
Global:Found throughout the temperate regions of the northern hemisphere.
Flowers from May to August
Grows on waste ground, and on meadows and pastures