Poa bulbosa |
Poa stenantha |
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bulbous blue grass |
narrow-flower bluegrass, northern bluegrass |
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Habit | Plants perennial; densely tufted, not rhizomatous, not stoloniferous. | Plants perennial; glaucous or not; densely to loosely tufted, not stoloniferous, not rhizomatous. | ||||||||
Culms | 15-60 cm, erect or spreading, bases bulbous. |
20-60(100) cm, bases decumbent or sometimes erect, terete, with 1-2 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 1/10 – 1/5(1/4) their length, terete, bases of basal sheaths glabrous; ligules 2-5 mm, milky white, smooth or sparsely scabrous, acute to acuminate; innovation blades similar in texture and shape to the cauline blades; cauline blades not greatly reduced upwards, 1.5-4(5) mm wide, flat or folded, thin, lax, smooth or sparsely scabrous, apices narrowly prow-shaped. |
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Basal branching | intravaginal. |
mostly extravaginal, some 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. |
5-18(25) cm, lax, loosely contracted to open, sparse, with 20-65 spikelets and usually 2(7) branches per node; branches 3-15 cm, ascending to spreading, angled, angles finely to coarsely, sparsely to fairly densely scabrous, infrequently smooth, with 3-10(15) spikelets in the distal 1/2. |
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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. |
6-10 mm, lengths 3-3.6 times widths, lanceolate to narrowly ovate, laterally compressed, sometimes bulbiferous, drab, often slightly glaucous; florets 3-4(7), normal or bulb-forming; rachilla internodes 1.2-2 mm, slightly dorsally compressed, smooth or sparsely muriculate. |
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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. |
subequal, lanceolate to broadly lanceolate, dull, frequently glaucous, obtuse to acute; lower glumes 3-veined; upper glumes (3.7)4.1-6.5 mm; calluses usually crowned with 0.2-2 mm hairs, sometimes glabrous; lemmas 4-6 mm, lanceolate, distinctly compressed, distinctly keeled, keels, marginal veins, and sometimes the lateral veins short- to long-villous, hairs extending for 3/4 of the keel, intercostal regions glabrous, sparsely puberulent or hispidulous proximally, usually sparsely to moderately densely scabrous distally, hairs distinctly shorter than those of the keel and veins, margins weakly inrolled, broadly scarious, glabrous, apices acute; palea keels scabrous, often softly puberulent at midlength, intercostal regions glabrous or puberulent; anthers 1.2-2 mm, sometimes aborted late in development or undeveloped. |
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2n | = 14, 21, 28, 39, 42, 45. |
= 42, [81, 84, 86?]. |
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Poa bulbosa |
Poa stenantha |
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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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AK; CO; ID; MT; OR; UT; WA; AB; BC
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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 stenantha grows in coastal meadows and on cliffs in subarctic and boreal forests; it is less common in moist, more southern subalpine and low alpine meadows and thickets. Its range extends from western Alaska to the northern Cascades and Rocky Mountains and, as a disjunct, to Patagonia. Poa stenantha was originally described as growing in Kamchatka, Russia, but the Russian plants have since been referred to other species. (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. 592. | ||||||||
Parent taxa | Poaceae > subfam. Pooideae > tribe Poeae > Poa > subg. Poa > sect. Arenariae | Poaceae > subfam. Pooideae > tribe Poeae > Poa > subg. Poa > sect. Secundae > subsect. Halophytae | ||||||||
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Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||
Synonyms | P. macroclada | |||||||||
Name authority | L. | Trin. | ||||||||
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