Burke: Poa palustris vs. Poa confinis

	Poa palustris	Poa confinis
	fowl blue grass	coastline blue grass
Habit		Strongly rhizomatous, dioecious perennial, mostly glabrous, the culms 10-35 cm. tall with a decumbent base.
Leaves		Leaves basally tufted, the sheaths open for over half their length, the blades involute, reaching to the panicles, scarcely 2 mm. broad, the tips only slightly prow-like; ligules membranous, acute, 0.8-2 mm. long, entire, pubescent.
Flowers		Inflorescence a compact panicle, 1.5-3.5 cm. long, the branches erect, tawny to purplish; spikelets 3-4 flowers, the rachilla usually with a terminal rudiment; glumes 3-nerved, about equal in width, the first 2.5-3 mm. long, the second 3-4 mm. long; lemmas strongly keeled, faintly 5-nerved, glabrous, unawned.
Fruits		Utricle

	Poa palustris	Poa confinis
Flowering time	May-August	May-June
Habitat	Sea level to open meadows and forested areas in the mountains, always where moist.	Coastal sand dunes.
Distribution	Occurring on both sides of the Cascades crest in Washington; Alaska to California, east across most of North America to the Atlantic Coast. [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]	Occurring west of the Cascades crest in Washington along the coast; British Columbia to California. [BONAP county map]
Origin	Introduced from Europe	Native
Conservation status	Not of concern	Not of concern
Sibling taxa	P. alpina, P. annua, P. arctica, P. bolanderi, P. bulbosa, P. compressa, P. confinis, P. curtifolia, P. cusickii, P. fendleriana, P. glauca, P. howellii, P. infirma, P. interior, P. laxiflora, P. leibergii, P. leptocoma, P. lettermanii, P. macrantha, P. marcida, P. ×multnomae, P. nemoralis, P. nervosa, P. paucispicula, P. pratensis, P. secunda, P. stenantha, P. suksdorfii, P. trivialis, P. unilateralis, P. wheeleri	P. alpina, P. annua, P. arctica, P. bolanderi, P. bulbosa, P. compressa, P. curtifolia, P. cusickii, P. fendleriana, P. glauca, P. howellii, P. infirma, P. interior, P. laxiflora, P. leibergii, P. leptocoma, P. lettermanii, P. macrantha, P. marcida, P. ×multnomae, P. nemoralis, P. nervosa, P. palustris, P. paucispicula, P. pratensis, P. secunda, P. stenantha, P. suksdorfii, P. trivialis, P. unilateralis, P. wheeleri
Web links	Local floras: BC, CA, OR, WA Local Web sites: CalFlora, CalPhotos, Flora NW, PNW Herbaria WildflowerSearch iNaturalist (observations) USDA Plants Database LBJ Wildflower Center SEINet Plants of the World Online Encyclopedia of Life Wikipedia Google Image Search	Local floras: BC, CA, OR, WA Local Web sites: CalFlora, CalPhotos, Flora NW, PNW Herbaria WildflowerSearch iNaturalist (observations) USDA Plants Database LBJ Wildflower Center SEINet Plants of the World Online Encyclopedia of Life Wikipedia Google Image Search

Poa palustris

Poa confinis

fowl blue grass

coastline blue grass

Habit

Strongly rhizomatous, dioecious perennial, mostly glabrous, the culms 10-35 cm. tall with a decumbent base.

Leaves

Leaves basally tufted, the sheaths open for over half their length, the blades involute, reaching to the panicles, scarcely 2 mm. broad, the tips only slightly prow-like;

ligules membranous, acute, 0.8-2 mm. long, entire, pubescent.

Flowers

Inflorescence a compact panicle, 1.5-3.5 cm. long, the branches erect, tawny to purplish;

spikelets 3-4 flowers, the rachilla usually with a terminal rudiment;

glumes 3-nerved, about equal in width, the first 2.5-3 mm. long, the second 3-4 mm. long;

lemmas strongly keeled, faintly 5-nerved, glabrous, unawned.

Fruits

Utricle