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Timothy
Common
Name(s):
Timothy
Scientific
Name:
Phleum
pratense L.
Scientific
Name Synonyms:
None known
Symbol:
PHPR3
Description:
Life
Span: Perennial
Origin:
Introduced
Season: Cool
Growth Characteristics:
A
perennial bunchgrass, growing 2 to 3 ½ feet tall, with a
swollen or bulblike base, without rhizomes. It starts growth in
early spring, flowers May to August, and reproduces from seeds and
tillers.
Seedhead:Dense, cylindrical, symmetrical
spike-like panicle, 2 to 5 inches long, several times longer than
wide; spikelets flattened, contain a single floret; seed enclosed
by persistent, hairy-fringed glumes, each glume producing a short,
bristle awn.
Leaves: Glabrous,
distinctly veined on blade and sheath; blades flat to somewhat keeled,
4 to 8 inches long, up to 3/8 inch wide, tapering toward the tip,
with midrib prominent on upper surface; leaves rolled in bud; ligules
up to 1/8 inch long, membranous, rounded or bluntly pointed, with
a finely toothed margin, auricle absent.
Ecological
Adaptations:
Timothy is an introduced
grass common in nearly all Utah meadows. It occurs mostly on overflow
or run-in sites, but it does well on mountain and high mountain
loam sites, especially where seeded under quaking aspen. It is cold
tolerant, and has poor drought tolerance.
Soils: It does best on moist, well-drained,
deep, irrigated soils of medium textures of the types occurring
in the mountain and high mountain areas of Utah. It is fairly salt
and alkali tolerant.
Associated Species:
Mountain
brome, smooth brome, waterleaf,
and quaking aspen. In wetter
areas, it is commonly associated with redtop,
Kentucky bluegrass, broadleaf
sedge, and wirerush.
Uses and
Management:
Timothy
has good to excellent forage value for all classes of livestock,
as well as for deer and elk. It is intolerant of heavy, season-long
grazing.
Timothy is a fairly good hay and irrigated pasture plant, especially
for horses, but also other species of domestic livestock. Where
horses are not overweight, a mixture of alfalfa and timothy is of
better nutritional value than straight timothy or timothy plus other
grasses.
Management of this grass in pastures should include light, frequent
irrigations, but avoid over-irrigation. Avoid grazing while the
pastures are still wet. Allow the plant to develop enough leaf surface
that it can manufacture additional herbage as the animals utilize
it. Application of nitrogen fertilizer is recommended where there
are not sufficient legumes in the sward to maintain an adequate
level of nitrogen for the grasses.
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