Poa cusickii |
Poa piperi |
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Cusick's bluegrass |
Piper's 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; loosely tufted, rhizomatous. | ||||||||||||
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. |
20-55 cm, erect or the bases decumbent, terete or weakly compressed; nodes terete, 0-1 exserted. |
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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 1/3-2/3 their length, terete, sparsely to moderately scabrous, glabrous or retrorsely hispidulous, bases of basal sheaths glabrous, distal sheath lengths 2.7-6.5(9.7) times blade lengths; collars of at least some leaves usually sparsely hispidulous; ligules 1-2 mm, scabrous, truncate to obtuse; innovation blades to 40 cm, adaxial surfaces moderately to densely scabrous or hispidulous on and between the veins; cauline blades steeply reduced in length distally, 1-3 mm wide, involute, moderately thick, soft, abaxial surfaces smooth, margins scabrous, apices narrowly prow-shaped, flag leaf blades 1-4.5 cm long. |
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Basal branching | intravaginal or intra- and extravaginal. |
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. |
4-8 cm, erect to nodding, lanceoloid to ovoid, loosely contracted, sparse, with 18-60 spikelets; nodes with 1-2 branches; branches 3-8 cm, ascending, lax, terete or weakly angled, moderately and sometimes coarsely scabrous, with 3-8 spikelets. |
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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. |
6-9(11) mm, lengths to 3 times widths, laterally compressed, not sexually dimorphic; florets 2-5(7); rachilla internodes 1-2 mm, glabrous, scabrous, or sparsely to densely puberulent. |
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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. |
subequal, distinctly keeled; lower glumes 3-veined; calluses diffusely webbed, hairs about 1/2 the lemma length; lemmas 4-6(7) mm, lanceolate, distinctly keeled, glabrous, smooth or sparsely to moderately finely scabrous, keels scabrous, lateral veins moderately prominent, margins glabrous, apices acute; palea keels scabrous, sometimes softly puberulent at midlength; anthers vestigial (0.1-0.2 mm) or 2-3 mm. |
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2n | = 28, 28+11, 56, 56+11, 59, ca. 70. |
= 28. |
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Poa cusickii |
Poa piperi |
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Distribution |
CA; CO; ID; MT; ND; NV; OR; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC; MB; SK; YT
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CA; OR |
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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 piperi grows in forests openings on serpentine rocks in the Coast Ranges of southwestern Oregon and northwestern California. It used to be included in P. rhizomata (p. 546), from which it differs in its involute leaves and glabrous lemmas. It is dioecious. (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. | ||||||||||||
Parent taxa | Poaceae > subfam. Pooideae > tribe Poeae > Poa > subg. Poa > sect. Madropoa > subsect. Epiles | Poaceae > subfam. Pooideae > tribe Poeae > Poa > subg. Poa > sect. Madropoa > subsect. Madropoa | ||||||||||||
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Name authority | Vasey | Hitchc. | ||||||||||||
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