Poa bulbosa |
Poa strictiramea |
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bulbous blue grass |
Big Bend bluegrass |
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Habit | Plants perennial; densely tufted, not rhizomatous, not stoloniferous. | Plants perennial; densely tufted, not stoloniferous, not rhizomatous. | ||||
Culms | 15-60 cm, erect or spreading, bases bulbous. |
30-90 cm, slender to coarse. |
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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 1/20 – 1/10 their length, terete, scabrous, glabrous; collars smooth to scabrous; ligules 0.5-4(6) mm, scabrous, apices truncate to acute, entire or lacerate; innovation blades 15-30 cm; cauline blades 1-4 mm wide, involute or rarely flat, moderately thick and firm, both surfaces sparsely to densely antrorsely scabrous, apices narrowly prow-shaped, flag leaf blades usually longer than their sheaths. |
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Basal branching | intravaginal. |
intra-vaginal. |
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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. |
(7)10-30 cm, erect, pyramidal, open, with 2-5 branches per node; branches 2-8(15) cm, spreading, straight, angled, angles moderately to densely scabrous, sometimes densely scabrous all over, with 10-30 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. |
4-7 mm, lanceolate, laterally compressed; florets 2-5; rachilla internodes 0.8-1.5 mm, smooth or scabrous, 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. |
sparsely to rarely densely scabrous; lower glumes 1-3-veined; calluses usually glabrous, rarely sparsely short-webbed; lemmas 2.5-3.5 mm, lanceolate, distinctly keeled, smooth or sparsely to densely scabrous, keels and marginal veins glabrous or softly puberulent or short- to long-villous, lateral veins moderately prominent to prominent, intercostal regions usually glabrous, infrequently sparsely softly puberulent, apices acute; palea keels scabrous; anthers aborted late in development, or 2.2-2.5 mm. |
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2n | = 14, 21, 28, 39, 42, 45. |
= 28+1, 28-29+11. |
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Poa bulbosa |
Poa strictiramea |
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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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TX |
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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 strictiramea grows on shady, upland mountain slopes, usually below north-facing cliffs, in and around the Chihuahuan Desert. In the United States, it is known only from the Chisos Mountains, Texas. It used to be treated as P. involuta Hitchc. Plants from the eastern part of its range, including the Chisos Mountains, commonly have short, truncate ligules, whereas westward in Mexico, plants with long, acute ligules are more common. (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. 540. | ||||
Parent taxa | Poaceae > subfam. Pooideae > tribe Poeae > Poa > subg. Poa > sect. Arenariae | Poaceae > subfam. Pooideae > tribe Poeae > Poa > subg. Poa > sect. Homalopoa | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Synonyms | P. involuta | |||||
Name authority | L. | Hitchc. | ||||
Web links |
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