Poa bulbosa |
Poa leibergii |
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bulbous blue grass |
Leiberg's blue grass |
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Habit | Plants perennial; densely tufted, not rhizomatous, not stoloniferous. | Plants perennial; densely tufted, tufts slender, not stoloniferous, not rhizomatous. | ||||
Culms | 15-60 cm, erect or spreading, bases bulbous. |
5-35 cm tall, 0.5-0.7 mm thick, erect or the bases decumbent, with 0-1 exserted nodes. |
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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 2/5 – 4/5 their length, terete, smooth and glabrous, bases of basal sheaths glabrous; collars smooth, glabrous; ligules (1)2-4 mm, colorless, transparent, smooth, margins decurrent or not, apices truncate to acute, ligules of innovation and cauline leaves alike; innovation blades smooth or sparsely scabrous abaxially; cauline blades 0.5-1 mm wide, flat, folded, or involute, thin, lax, filiform, usually soon withering, both surfaces smooth or sparsely scabrous, apices narrowly prow-shaped. |
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Basal branching | intravaginal. |
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. |
1-5(8) cm, erect to lax, lanceoloid to ovoid or pyramidal, contracted to open, sparse, with (1)6-17(22) spikelets; nodes with 1-2 branches; branches 1-4 cm, erect to spreading, slender, terete, smooth or sparsely to rarely moderately densely scabrous, with 1-2(3) 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. |
4-8 mm, lengths to 3 times widths, broadly lanceolate to broadly ovate, laterally compressed, not sexually dimorphic; florets 2-8; rachilla internodes glabrous. |
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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. |
thin, somewhat lustrous, distinctly keeled; lower glumes 3-veined, distinctly shorter than the lowest lemmas; calluses glabrous; lemmas 3.5-7 mm, lanceolate, distinctly keeled, thinly membranous, smooth or scabrous, glabrous, lateral veins moderately prominent to prominent, margins glabrous, apices acute to truncate and erose; palea keels smooth or scabrous, glabrous or pectinately ciliate; anthers vestigial (0.1-0.2 mm) or 1.3-3 mm. |
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2n | = 14, 21, 28, 39, 42, 45. |
= unknown. |
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Poa bulbosa |
Poa leibergii |
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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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ID; OR; WA
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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 leibergii grows on mossy ledges and around vernal pools and the outer margins of Camassia swales, in sagebrush desert to low alpine habitats, especially where snow persists. It is found primarily on and around the basaltic Columbia plateaus, and is gynodioecious. All reports of P. leibergii from California, and most of those from Nevada, are based on misidentified specimens of P. cusickii subsp. cusickii (p. 560) and P. stebbinsii (p. 564). (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. 563. | ||||
Parent taxa | Poaceae > subfam. Pooideae > tribe Poeae > Poa > subg. Poa > sect. Arenariae | Poaceae > subfam. Pooideae > tribe Poeae > Poa > subg. Poa > sect. Madropoa > subsect. Epiles | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Synonyms | P. vaseyochloa | |||||
Name authority | L. | Scribn. | ||||
Web links |
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