Poa bulbosa |
Poa keckii |
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bulbous blue grass |
Keck's blue grass |
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Habit | Plants perennial; densely tufted, not rhizomatous, not stoloniferous. | Plants perennial; not glaucous; densely tufted, not stoloniferous, not rhizomatous. | ||||
Culms | 15-60 cm, erect or spreading, bases bulbous. |
2-10(18) cm, erect to spreading; nodes terete, none exserted. |
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Sheaths | closed for about 1/4 their length, terete, lowest sheaths with swollen bases; ligules 1-3 mm, smooth or scabrous, apices obtuse to acute; blades 1-2.5 mm wide, flat, thin, lax, soon withering. |
closed for 1/10 – 1/5 their length, terete, smooth, glabrous, bases of basal sheaths glabrous, distal sheath lengths 1.5-7 times blade lengths; collars smooth, glabrous; ligules 1-3 mm, milky white, smooth or sparsely scabrous, apices obtuse to acute, ligules of upper innovation leaves shorter than 3 mm; innovation blades similar to the cauline blades; cauline blades 1-3.5(4.5) cm long, 0.9-1.8 mm wide, folded, moderately thick, soft, smooth, glabrous, adaxial surfaces infrequently sparsely scabrous, usually with papillae on the long cells (at 100x), apices narrowly prow-shaped, flag leaf blades folded, 1-1.8 mm wide, abaxial surfaces with 7-15 closely spaced, slightly protruding ribs. |
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Basal branching | intravaginal. |
all or mainly intravaginal. |
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Panicles | 3-12 cm, ovoid; nodes with 2-5 branches; branches ascending to spreading, terete, usually smooth or sparsely scabrous, infrequently moderately scabrous. |
1-4(6) cm, erect, ovoid to lanceoloid, contracted, congested, with 9-40 spikelets; nodes with 1-3 branches; branches 0.5-1.5 cm, erect, fairly straight, sulcate or angled, angles sparsely to densely scabrous, with 1-7 spikelets; pedicels shorter than the spikelets. |
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Spikelets | 3-5 mm, laterally compressed, usually bulbiferous; florets 3-7, the basal floret, and sometimes additional florets, normal; rachilla internodes smooth, glabrous. |
3.5-6 mm long, lengths to 3.5(3.8) times widths, lanceolate, laterally compressed, fairly strongly anthocyanic, not glaucous; florets 2-3; rachilla internodes terete, to 1.5 mm, smooth, sometimes sparsely hispidulous. |
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Glumes | keeled, keels scabrous; lower glumes 3-veined; upper glumes shorter than or subequal to the lowest lemmas; calluses webbed or glabrous; lemmas 3-4 mm, lanceolate, keeled, glabrous or the keels and marginal veins short- to long-villous, intercostal regions glabrous or softly puberulent, apices acute; paleas scabrous, keels often softly puberulent at midlength; anthers 1.2-1.5 mm and functional, sometimes aborted late in development, sometimes not developed. |
lanceolate, smooth, distinctly keeled, keels sparsely scabrous; lower glumes shorter than to equaling the lowest lemmas, 3-veined; upper glumes frequently exceeding the lowest lemmas, exceeded by the upper lemmas; calluses glabrous; lemmas 3-4.9 mm, lanceolate, distinctly keeled, thin, smooth or finely scabrous, glabrous or the keels and marginal veins sparsely puberulent proximally, lateral veins obscure, margins glabrous, apices acute; palea keels scabrous; anthers 0.6-1.3(1.8) mm. |
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2n | = 14, 21, 28, 39, 42, 45. |
= unknown. |
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Poa bulbosa |
Poa keckii |
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Distribution |
AR; AZ; CA; CO; CT; DE; GA; IA; ID; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; MI; MN; MO; MT; NC; ND; NE; NJ; NM; NV; NY; OH; OK; OR; PA; SD; TN; TX; UT; VA; VT; WA; WI; WV; WY
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CA |
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Discussion | Poa bulbosa is a European species that is now established in the Flora region. In southern Europe and the Middle East, it is considered an important early spring forage. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Poa keckii is endemic to high alpine frost scars and ledges, usually on open ground, in the Sierra Nevada and adjacent Sweetwater and White mountains of California. It is very similar to Poa suksdorfii (see next), but is consistently distinct in its details. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 24, p. 516. | FNA vol. 24, p. 584. | ||||
Parent taxa | Poaceae > subfam. Pooideae > tribe Poeae > Poa > subg. Poa > sect. Arenariae | Poaceae > subfam. Pooideae > tribe Poeae > Poa > subg. Poa > sect. Abbreviatae | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Name authority | L. | Soreng | ||||
Web links |
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