rootfast

Index / Search / Polypogon monspeliensis

§1 Plant

Polypogon monspeliensis (L.) Desf.

vernacular annual rabbitsfoot grass — species · Poaceae

USDA
POMO5
GBIF
5289917
Rank
species
annual rabbitsfoot grass (Polypogon monspeliensis)
Platephotograph · ellen hildebrandtCC BY-NC source · iNaturalist ↗

§2Habit & range

Habit and range

Growth habit
Graminoid
Duration
Annual
Group
Monocot
Family
Poaceae Barnhart
Genus
Polypogon
§2a

Native status, by region

  • AK Alaska Introduced
  • CAN Canada Introduced
  • HI Hawaii Introduced
  • L48 Lower 48 States Introduced
  • PB Pacific Basin (except Hawaii) Introduced
§2b

County-level range

· 546 counties across 37 states/territories
Legend Native · 0 Introduced · 546 Both · 0 Hover a county for detail.

§3Cultivation specs · USDA

Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.

§3a

Tolerances

Drought
Low
Shade
High
Moisture use
High
Fire
Medium
Salinity
Low
Anaerobic
High
CaCO₃
Medium
Hedging
None
§3b

Climate & soil

Cold tolerance
52 °F minimum
Frost-free days
90 min.
Precipitation
12–55 in/yr
pH range
4.8–7.8
Root depth
10 in min.
Fertility need
Low
Soil texture
coarse, medium, fine
§3c

Form & growth

Growth form
Bunch
Growth rate
Rapid
Mature height
1.7 ft
Foliage texture
Fine
Foliage colour
Green
Porosity (summer)
Moderate
Porosity (winter)
Porous
Flower colour
Yellow
Fruit colour
Brown
Fire resistant
No
N fixation
None
Toxicity
None
§3d

Reproduction

Bloom period
Late Spring
Seed abundance
Medium
Seed begins
Summer
Seed ends
Summer
Spread rate
Moderate
Stratify
No
Seeds / lb
125,000
Propagation
seed
§3e

Use & availability

Commercial availability
Routinely Available
Nursery stock
No
Browse palatability
Low
Graze palatability
Low
Palatable, human
No
Protein potential
Low
Lumber
No
Christmas tree
No

§4Counties, by state

Recorded in 546 counties across 37 states/territories.

Alabama view state ↗ 3 I ▾
Alaska view state ↗ 1 I ▾
Arizona view state ↗ 14 I ▾
Arkansas view state ↗ 5 I ▾
California view state ↗ 53 I ▾
Colorado view state ↗ 22 I ▾
Florida view state ↗ 31 I ▾
Georgia view state ↗ 9 I ▾
Hawaii view state ↗ 4 I ▾
Idaho view state ↗ 32 I ▾
Iowa view state ↗ 1 I ▾
Kansas view state ↗ 23 I ▾
Louisiana view state ↗ 28 I ▾
Maine view state ↗ 1 I ▾
Massachusetts view state ↗ 4 I ▾
Michigan view state ↗ 1 I ▾
Minnesota view state ↗ 1 I ▾
Mississippi view state ↗ 4 I ▾
Montana view state ↗ 20 I ▾
Nebraska view state ↗ 23 I ▾
Nevada view state ↗ 16 I ▾
New Hampshire view state ↗ 1 I ▾
New Mexico view state ↗ 24 I ▾
New York view state ↗ 3 I ▾
North Carolina view state ↗ 8 I ▾
North Dakota view state ↗ 5 I ▾
Oklahoma view state ↗ 16 I ▾
Oregon view state ↗ 26 I ▾
Pennsylvania view state ↗ 2 I ▾
South Carolina view state ↗ 4 I ▾
South Dakota view state ↗ 4 I ▾
Tennessee view state ↗ 1 I ▾
Texas view state ↗ 69 I ▾
Utah view state ↗ 25 I ▾
Virginia view state ↗ 14 I ▾
Washington view state ↗ 30 I ▾
Wyoming view state ↗ 18 I ▾

§5Sources & provenance

USDA PLANTS

Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.

plants.usda.gov/POMO5 ↗

GBIF Backbone

Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.

gbif.org/species/5289917 ↗

Record version

Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:

usda-plants-mt-2026-05-26

fetched 2026-05-26T20:46:58Z