Snow grass

SCIENTIFIC NAME: Poa sieberiana

CATEGORY: C3 perennial

IDENTIFICATION TIPS

  • A densely tufted, yearlong green perennial to 80cm tall
  • Leaves are long & fine, green to grey-green, rough to the touch and lack a ligule
  • Seedhead is pyramid-shaped open panicle to 18cm long, varying from green to purple in colour
  • Flowers from spring  to early summer

CLIMATIC & SOIL REQUIREMENTS

  • Widespread in many situations; often in woodlands and forests
  • More common on well drained mid to upper slopes than in drainage lines
  • High drought tolerance

GRAZING & NUTRITIONAL VALUE

  • Low to moderate grazing value
  • Digestibility ranges from 42-69 %
  • Crude protein 4-12.5 %

MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES

  • Highly productive and leafy species that produces good quantities of green leaf over winter and early spring
  • Grazing value is often limited due to its propensity to become rank and unpalatable
  • Will increase in abundance if allowed to become rank and other species are heavily grazed
  • Tends to decrease under management that retains a high proportion of green material, for example, heavy rotational grazing
  • May require supplementation with slashing or an occasional cool burn to reduce the percentage of dead leaf

SIMILAR PLANTS

  • Poa tussock (P. labillardierei) forms a larger tussock with leaves to 3.5mm wide. Usually found on more fertile soils with good moisture
  • Rough speargrass (Austrostipa scabra) is vegetatively very similar, but has awns in the seedhead
  • Serrated tussock (Nassella trichotoma) is also vegetatively very similar, but has a papery ligule and awns in the seedhead
Snow grass
Snow grass
Snow grass
Snow grass