Botanic Garden >> Gardening > >> Houseplants >> Plants for Details >> Grasses and Bamboo

Timothy Grass (Phleum pratense): Classic Forage and Hay Grass

Overview

Timothy (Cat's Tail) is a cool-season, perennial bunchgrass native to Europe but naturalized worldwide. It forms loose tufts of flat leaves and a distinctive, dense, cylindrical spike-like panicle (resembling a cat's tail) in early summer. The premier hay grass for horses and livestock due to high fiber and palatability.

Taxonomy & Nomenclature

Family:	Poaceae (poh-AY-see-ee)
Genus:	Phleum (FLEE-um)
Species:	pratense (pray-TEN-see)

Synonyms: Phleum nodosum, Phleum pratense var. nodosum, Phleum pratense subsp. nodosum.

Cultivation & Uses

Full sun to part shade; moist, fertile, well-drained soil. Grown agriculturally for hay, pasture, and silage. Also used in erosion control mixes and lawns. Not typically ornamental. The cylindrical seed heads are distinctive. Many cultivars for forage yield and disease resistance.

Grasses and Bamboo: Daylily 'Cat's Cradle': Hagar's 1985 Cultivar with Unique Form; Giant Burro's Tail (Sedum morganianum); Golden Rat Tail (Cleistocactus winteri): A Trailing Cactus with Golden Spines and Orange Flowers; Burro's Tail (Sedum burrito): A Cascading Succulent Classic; Kraal Aloe (Aloe claviflora); Cat's Tail Aloe (Aloe castanea); Hare's Tail Grass (Lagurus ovatus); Yerba Mansa (Anemopsis californica): Wetland Medicinal Plant; Cat's Whiskers (Orthosiphon aristatus): Airy White Spikes for Tea and Pollinators; Lion's Tail (Leonotis menthifolia): Whorls of Orange Tubular Flowers

Garden Articles

Standard Dwarf Bearded Iris 'Cat's Eye': A 2002 Black Introduction

Pheasant's Tail Grass 'Capriccio' (Anemanthele lessoniana): A Graceful, Evergreen Grass with Copper Highlights

Stipa (Stipa joannis): Feather Grass with Silky Awns

Colima (Zanthoxylum fagara): Lime Prickly-Ash

Lion's Ear (Leonotis leonurus): Orange Whorls for Pollinators

Burro's Tail (Sedum morganianum): Cascading Succulent Beads

Bat Flower (Tacca chantrieri): The Exotic, Black-Flowered Wonder

Plants

Papyrus (Cyperus papyrus)

Johnsongrass (Sorghum halepense)

Popcorn 'Strawberry' (Zea mays 'Strawberry')

Buffalograss (Bouteloua dactyloides): The Native, Drought-Tolerant Turf of the Great Plains

Wiregrass (Aristida stricta var. beyrichiana): Keystone Species of Longleaf Pine Ecosystems

Bamboo (Dendrocalamus sinicus): The World's Largest Bamboo Species

Wiregrass (Aristida stricta var. beyrichiana): Keystone Longleaf Pine Understory Grass