What is orchard grass?

Answer 1

Orchard grass (Dactylis glomerata) is a species of grass that is great to use for grazing livestock such as horses, sheep and cattle. It is a cool season (C3) grass that starts growth early in the spring and finishes by mid summer. It has rapid regrowth after being grazed, is winter hardy and is quite productive at warm temperatures. It is characterized by the leaves' ability to fold in half, which can be seen if you look at a vegetative plant and look at the base of the plant. This is folding of the leaves creates what is called a psuedostem, or a false stem. A psuedostem refers to basal leaves in grasses which several leaf sheaths are layered in a concentric arrangement which give them the apperance of a stem. The leaves are V-shaped with a boat-shaped tip, and can grow up to 50 cm long. Orchard grass is a bunch grass, in other words it grows in bunches or groups in a certain area instead of spreading out evenly like sod grasses do (for intsance, Kentucky Blue grass is a sod grass). Because the Orchard grass is a bunch grass most of the leaves are found to be upright, not growing close to the ground. When shooting up a stem, this plant can get between 80 to 130 cm tall.

The ligule, the lighter, more thinner portion of the plant located at the collar or base of the leaf, is 3-4 mm tall, often bifid or has slightly ragged edges, with the top margin of the ligule lacerated or "cut up." The floral portion of the Orchard grass is a closed panicle, which is a term for the floral structures of the grass branching off at one node of the stem into different structures. The "branch" of this stem is called the pedicel; at the end of the pedicel is the spikelet, or the floral portion of the grass. These panicles are bunched densely together in one-sided clusters.

Check out the links below for pictures and further info on Orchard Grass.