Weeds of Australia - Fact Sheet

Top Scientific Name Family Common Names Origin Naturalised Distribution Notes

Scientific Name

Poa pratensis L.

Family

Gramineae (South Australia)
Poaceae (Queensland, New South Wales, the ACT, Victoria, Tasmania, Western Australia and the Northern Territory)

Common Names

English meadow-grass, Kentucky blue grass, Kentucky blue-grass, Kentucky bluegrass, meadow poa, meadow-grass, smooth meadow grass

Origin

Native to north-western Africa (i.e. Morocco), the Azores, the Madeira Islands, the Canary Islands, Europe, western and northern Asia (i.e. Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Cyprus, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Mongolia), China, the Indian Sub-continent (i.e. northern India and Pakistan) and North America (i.e. Alaska, Canada and the USA).

Naturalised Distribution

This species is widely naturalised in southern Australia (i.e. in eastern and southern New South Wales, the ACT, Victoria, Tasmania, south-eastern South Australia and south-western Western Australia). Also naturalised in the southern parts of the Northern Territory, and on Lord Howe Island and Norfolk Island.

Naturalised beyond its native range in North America, as well as in southern Africa, New Zealand, the Mascarenes and Hawaii.

Notes

Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis) is regarded as an environmental weed in Victoria.