Florapass
English
Dover grass

Dover grass

Lolium pratense

Identify the Dover grass from a photo and log your finds with Florapass.

Coming soon to the App Store and Google Play.

How common: Common

Alien species

Dover grass is a tall, long‑lived grass that grows in loose tufts. It has dark green, shiny leaves and an open, branched flower head in early summer. You can see it in fields, meadows, roadsides and other open places, often where people farm or mow.

Did you know?

  • A major pasture grass often included in lawn and forage seed mixes.
  • Its pollen is carried by the wind.

About the species

Identification

Tuft‑forming grass 40–100 cm tall with upright, smooth stems. Leaves 3–8 mm wide, long and dark green; the top side is slightly grooved, the underside very shiny and smooth; in dry weather the edges often roll inwards. At the leaf base are small ear‑like flaps and a very short rim. Flower head 7–25 cm, loose and branched, often slightly drooping; short side branches carry many narrow, cigar‑shaped flower clusters, usually without bristles. Unlike ryegrasses, it has a branched flower head, not a single one‑sided spike. Flowers in Finland in June–July.

Plant group

Grasses, sedges and rushes

Habitat

meadow

Flowering

Jun–Jul

About the habitat

Prefers open, dry to moderately moist grasslands and farmland: fields, fresh meadows, road and path edges and waste ground. Often sown for pasture and can persist after cultivation. Common in southern and central Finland; further north mostly in sown grasslands and pastures.

Sources

Photo: Patrick Le Mao, CC0 1.0 https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/6129846754

Text: Pinkka: Verso- ja leviäintunnistus - Kaikki leviäimet, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.40434

Text: Pinkka: Verso- ja leviäintunnistus - Kaikki versot, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.40434

Text: Pinkka: Laaja maatalouslajintuntemus 4 op - Koppisiemeniset, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.40434

Text: Pinkka (Luomus), CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.40434

Text: Pinkka: BIO-516 Hyötykasvit - Rehukasveja, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.40434

Text: Wikipedia (Finnish), CC BY-SA 4.0 https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nurminata

See also