Poa cusickii |
Poa palustris |
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Cusick's bluegrass |
fowl blue grass |
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Habit | Plants perennial; usually densely tufted, rarely moderately densely tufted, usually neither rhizomatous nor stoloniferous, infrequently short-rhizomatous or stoloniferous, rarely with distinct rhizomes. | Plants perennial; usually loosely, sometimes densely, tufted, frequently stoloniferous. | ||||||||||||
Culms | 10-60(70) cm tall, 0.5-1.8 mm thick, erect or the bases decumbent, terete or weakly compressed; nodes terete, 0-2 exserted. |
25-120 cm, erect or the bases decumbent, sometimes branching above the base, terete or weakly compressed, scabrous below the panicle; nodes terete or slightly compressed, proximal nodes often slightly swollen, uppermost node at or above (73)72 the culm length. |
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Sheaths | closed for 1/4-3/4 their length, terete, smooth or scabrous, glabrous, bases of basal sheaths glabrous, distal sheath lengths 1.6-10 times blade lengths; collars smooth or scabrous, glabrous; ligules of cauline leaves 1-3(6) mm, smooth or scabrous, truncate to acute, ligules of the innovation leaves 0.2-0.5(2.5) mm, scabrous, usually truncate; innovation blades sometimes distinctly different from the cauline blades, 0.5-2 mm wide, involute, moderately thick, moderately firm, adaxial surfaces usually densely scabrous or hispidulous to softly puberulent, infrequently nearly smooth and glabrous; cauline blades subequal or the midcauline blades longest or the blades gradually reduced in length distally, 0.5-3 mm wide, flat, folded, or involute, usually thin, usually withering, abaxial surfaces smooth or scabrous, apices narrowly to broadly prow-shaped, flag leaf blades 0.5-5(6) cm. |
closed for 1/10 – 1/5 their length, slightly compressed, glabrous or sparsely retrorsely scabrous, bases of basal sheaths glabrous, distal sheath lengths 0.7-2.2 times blade lengths; ligules (1)1.5-6 mm, smooth or sparsely to moderately scabrous, apices obtuse to acute, frequently lacerate, usually minutely ciliolate; blades 1.5-8 mm wide, flat, usually several per culm, steeply ascending or spreading to 80°, often lax distally, apices narrowly prow-shaped. |
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Basal branching | intravaginal or intra- and extravaginal. |
extravaginal or mixed extra- and intravaginal. |
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Panicles | 2-10(12) cm, usually erect, contracted or loosely contracted, narrowly lanceoloid to ovoid, congested or moderately congested, with 10-100 spikelets and 1-3(5) branches per node; branches 0.5-4(5) cm, erect or steeply ascending, fairly straight, slender to stout, terete to angled, smooth or scabrous, with 1-15 spikelets. |
(9)13-30(41) cm, lengths 73-72 times widths at maturity, lax, eventually open, sparsely to moderately congested, with 25-100+ spikelets; nodes with 2-9 branches; branches 4-15 cm, 3/10 – 1/2 the panicle length, initially erect, eventually widely spreading to slightly reflexed, fairly straight, slender, angles densely scabrous. |
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Spikelets | (3)4-10 mm, lengths to 3 times widths, broadly lanceolate to narrowly ovate, laterally compressed, not sexually dimorphic; florets 2-6; rachilla internodes 0.5-1.2 mm, smooth or scabrous. |
3-5 mm, lengths 3-3.5 times widths, narrowly to broadly lanceolate, laterally compressed; florets (1)2-5; rachilla internodes mostly shorter than 1 mm, usually muriculate, sometimes smooth, rarely sparsely hispidulous. |
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Glumes | lanceolate, distinctly keeled; lower glumes 3-veined, distinctly shorter than the lowest lemmas; calluses glabrous or diffusely webbed, hairs less than 1/4 the lemma length; lemmas (3)4-7 mm, lanceolate to broadly lanceolate, distinctly keeled, membranous to thinly membranous, smooth or sparsely to densely scabrous, glabrous or the keels and/or marginal veins puberulent proximally, lateral veins obscure to prominent, margins glabrous, apices acute; palea keels scabrous, intercostal regions glabrous; anthers vestigial (0.1-0.2 mm), aborted late in development, or 2-3.5 mm. |
subulate to lanceolate, distinctly keeled, keels smooth or sparsely scabrous; lower glumes with lengths 6.4-10 times widths, 3-veined, long-tapered to a slender point; calluses sparsely to moderately densely webbed, hairs (1/2)2/3 the lemma length; lemmas 2-3 mm, narrowly lanceolate to lanceolate, distinctly keeled, keels straight or gradually arched, usually abruptly inwardly arched at the junction of the scarious apices, keels and marginal veins short-villous, lateral veins obscure, intercostal regions muriculate, glabrous, margins distinctly inrolled, glabrous, apices obtuse or acute, usually partially bronze-colored, frequently incurved and blunt with a short, hyaline margin; palea keels scabrous, intercostal regions glabrous; anthers 1.3-1.8 mm. |
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2n | = 28, 28+11, 56, 56+11, 59, ca. 70. |
= 28, 30, 32, 35, 42, 56, 84. |
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Poa cusickii |
Poa palustris |
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Distribution |
CA; CO; ID; MT; ND; NV; OR; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC; MB; SK; YT
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AK; AZ; CA; CO; CT; DC; DE; IA; ID; IL; IN; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MS; MT; NC; ND; NE; NH; NJ; NM; NV; NY; OH; OR; PA; RI; SC; SD; TN; UT; VA; VT; WA; WI; WV; WY; AB; BC; MB; NB; NL; NS; NT; ON; PE; QC; SK; YT; Greenland
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Discussion | Poa cusickii grows in rich meadows in sagebrush scrub to rocky alpine slopes, from the southwestern Yukon Territory to Manitoba and North Dakota, south to central California and eastern Colorado. It is gynodioecious or dioecious. Sexually reproducing plants of Poa cusickii subspp. cusickii and pallida grow in different geographic areas, but pistillate plants of these two subspecies have overlapping ranges. Only pistillate plants are known in Poa cusickii subspp. epilis and purpurascens. All the alpine plants studied were pistillate. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Poa palustris is native to boreal regions of northern Eurasia and North America, and is widespread in cool-temperate and boreal riparian and upland areas. European plants have also been introduced to other parts of North America. Plants in the Pacific Northwest and the southern United States are usually regarded as introduced, but some populations may be native. Poa palustris is used for soil stabilization and waterfowl feed. Poa palustris from drier woods and meadows tends to resemble P. interior (p. 576). The best features for recognizing it include its loose growth habit, more steeply ascending leaf blades, well-developed callus webs, narrowly hyaline lemma margins, and incurving lemma keels. It also has a tendency to branch at the nodes above the base. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 24, p. 559. | FNA vol. 24, p. 574. | ||||||||||||
Parent taxa | Poaceae > subfam. Pooideae > tribe Poeae > Poa > subg. Poa > sect. Madropoa > subsect. Epiles | Poaceae > subfam. Pooideae > tribe Poeae > Poa > subg. Poa > sect. Stenopoa | ||||||||||||
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Synonyms | P. seroiina, P. eyerdatnii | |||||||||||||
Name authority | Vasey | L. | ||||||||||||
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