Annual Bluegrass (Poa annua)

Kentucky bluegrass is the most common turfgrass in the United States. Its use as a turf grass in Arizona is limited to the cooler parts of the state, typically at elevations about 5000 ft, although it may be used in some aggressively maintained golf courses at lower elevation. Annual bluegrass is a weedy variety that invades Bermuda grass lawns and fields in Arizona desert communities during the fall through spring. Birds and small animals eat the seed of the grass providing widespread distribution. Bluegrass pollen is highly allergenic and cross reacts with other cool weather grasses such as Rye grass and Timothy grass. It likes cool, wet conditions and will proliferate and take over lawns and sport fields if we have a rainy winter.