Phleum is a genus of about 15 species of annual

Annual plant

An annual plant is a plant that usually germinates, flowers, and dies in a year or season. True annuals will only live longer than a year if they are prevented from setting seed...

 and perennial

Perennial plant

A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives for more than two years. The term is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter lived annuals and biennials. The term is sometimes misused by commercial gardeners or horticulturalists to describe only herbaceous perennials...

 grasses

Poaceae

The Poaceae is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of flowering plants. Members of this family are commonly called grasses, although the term "grass" is also applied to plants that are not in the Poaceae lineage, including the rushes and sedges...

. The genus is native to Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

, Asia

Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...

 and north Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

, with one species (P. alpinum) also in North

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

 and South America

South America

South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

.

They are tufted grasses growing to 20-150 cm tall, with cylindrical flower

Flower

A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs...

heads with densely packed spikelets.

Selected species

• Phleum alpinum
  Phleum alpinum
  Phleum alpinum is a species of grass known by the common name Alpine timothy.-Distribution:Phleum alpinum has a circumboreal distribution, inhabiting northern areas of the Northern Hemisphere, as well as extending down through the Americas to southern South America...
  
  – Alpine Catstail or Alpine Timothy
• Phleum arenarium – Sand Catstail
• Phleum boissieri
• Phleum commutatum
• Phleum crypsoides
• Phleum echinatum
• Phleum exaratum (syn. P. graecum)
• Phleum gibbum
• Phleum hirsutum
• Phleum iranicum
• Phleum japonicum
• Phleum montanum
• Phleum paniculatum
• Phleum phleoides
  Phleum phleoides
  Phleum phleoides is a perennial grass native to most of Europe, North Africa, and temperate Asia. Culms are erect and 10–70 cm in height; leaf blades are 5–12 cm long by 1–3.5 mm wide.- References and external links :* * *...
  
  – Purple-stem Catstail
• Phleum pratense
  Timothy-grass
  Timothy-grass , is an abundant perennial grass native to most of Europe except for the Mediterranean region. It grows to 50–150 cm tall, with leaves up to 45 cm long and 1 cm broad. The flowerhead is 7–15 cm long and 8–10 mm broad, with densely packed spikelets...
  
  (syn. P. bertolonii) – Timothy-grass
• Phleum subulatum

Cultivation and uses

Several species are important for cattle

Cattle

Cattle are the most common type of large domesticated ungulates. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae, are the most widespread species of the genus Bos, and are most commonly classified collectively as Bos primigenius...

 feed and as hay

Hay

Hay is grass, legumes or other herbaceous plants that have been cut, dried, and stored for use as animal fodder, particularly for grazing livestock such as cattle, horses, goats, and sheep. Hay is also fed to pets such as rabbits and guinea pigs...

 for horse

Horse

The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...

s and other domestic animals.