Poa compressa aka Canada Bluegrass

Poa compressa is a perennial grass in the Poaceae family. A perennial lives for more than two years. This grass has more than one common name. These include Canada bluegrass and flattened meadow grass. Wire grass is a further name for this plant. Its Welsh name is gweunwellt cywasg. The name Canada bluegrass may suggest a home in Canada. Yet the sources place its native range in other lands. North Carolina State Extension names Europe and China as its native range. The Royal Horticultural Society also lists Britain and Ireland as native lands.

The grass now grows far beyond its native range. North Carolina State Extension gives its range as worldwide. That account thus covers both its native lands and its wider range. It also groups this plant with ornamental grasses and sedges. The sources give no height for a full-grown plant. Nor do they state how wide it can grow. There is no mature height or spread to report from these accounts.

The leaves form a rosette, an arrangement known as rosulate. In plain terms, the leaves grow in a rose-like group. The plant has no hairs, and its stems have no scent. Its fruit is a caryopsis, the term used for a grain. The supplied account does not state the colour of its flowers. It does not say when the plant blooms, either. Thus, the account names the fruit type but gives no bloom time.

Gray snow mold is a known disease problem for this grass. North Carolina State Extension warns that people may confuse it with Poa annua. Their names look much alike, but they are two distinct species. The warning concerns the risk of mixing up the two plants. It does not mean that the two names describe one species.

The supplied accounts give no water needs for this species. They do not state its soil or light needs, either. These gaps leave no basis here for those care details. The accounts also give no evidence for food use. Nor do they give evidence about toxicity. The lack of such facts does not establish food use or safety.