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eminent bluegrass, largeflower speargrass

grove blue grass

Habit Plants perennial; often glaucous; rhizomatous, rhizomes stout, about 2 mm thick, culms solitary. Plants perennial; not rhizomatous, not stoloniferous, loosely tufted.
Culms

20-100 cm tall, about 2 mm thick, terete or weakly compressed;

nodes terete, 0-1 exserted.

31-126 cm.

Sheaths

closed for 1/6-1/3 their length, sometimes fused by a hyaline membrane to 3/4 their length, terete, bases of some basal sheaths densely retrorsely hairy, hairs 0.1-0.2 mm, thick;

ligules 1-3.5 mm, yellow-cream to brown, truncate, erose, ciliolate;

blades (2)4-11 mm wide, flat, thick, smooth or sparsely scabrous, apices broadly prow-shaped.

closed for 1/2 - 7/8 their length;

ligules 0.1-1.7(2.1) mm, smooth or sparsely scabrous, truncate to obtuse;

blades 0.8-4.1 mm wide, flat, lax.

Basal branching

extravaginal.

mainly pseudointravaginal.

Panicles

8-30 cm, erect, loosely contracted, fairly congested, with 40-100+ spikelets;

branches 3-10 cm, steeply ascending, terete, smooth or sparsely scabrous, sometimes with tufts of hair at the nodes, with 5-20 spikelets.

11.4-36 cm, erect or lax, narrowly pyramidal, usually open, infrequently contracted;

nodes with (2)3-5(7) branches;

branches spreading, straight, angled, angles sparsely to moderately scabrous.

Spikelets

5-12 mm, laterally compressed;

florets 2-6;

rachilla internodes smooth, infrequently sparsely puberulent.

3.5-6.7 mm, laterally compressed;

florets 2-4;

rachilla internodes glabrous.

Glumes

lanceolate, subequal or the upper glumes to 2 mm longer than the lower glumes, sometimes exceeding the lowest lemmas, distinctly keeled, smooth, often glaucous, acute to acuminate;

lower glumes 4-9.5 mm, 1-3(5)-veined;

upper glumes 5.5-10 mm, (1)3(5)-veined;

calluses of proximal lemmas usually with a crown of hairs, hairs 1-2 mm;

lemmas 4.5-7 mm, lanceolate, 5-7-veined, distinctly keeled, thinly membranous, glabrous or the keels and marginal veins long-villous, intercostal regions glabrous or hispidulous, moderately to densely scabrous, margins usually with hairs to 0.2 mm proximally, apices acute;

palea keels scabrous;

anthers 1.7-3.2 mm.

ovate, distinctly keeled, keels scabrous;

lower glumes 1-veined;

upper glumes shorter than or subequal to the lowest lemmas;

calluses webbed;

lemmas 2.7-4.2(5) mm, lanceolate, distinctly keeled, keels short-villous to about midlength, marginal and lateral veins glabrous, lateral veins obscure or moderately prominent, intercostal regions glabrous, smooth, apices acute;

paleas glabrous or ciliolate over the keels, apices finely scabrous;

anthers 0.4-0.8 mm.

2n

= 28, 29+-, 42, 62.

= unknown.

Poa eminens

Poa alsodes

Distribution
from FNA
AK; BC; NL; ON; QC
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CT; DE; IL; IN; KY; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; NC; NH; NJ; NY; OH; PA; SC; TN; VA; VT; WI; WV; NB; NS; ON; PE; QC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Poa eminens grows along low arctic and boreal coasts and estuaries, in subsaline meadows and beaches. It also grows along the Asian coast from Hokkaido Island, Japan, to the Chukchi Peninsula, Russia. It hybridizes with Dupontia (see xDupoa, p. 601). Its nuclear ribosomal DNA appears to be related to an ancestor of Dupontia (p. 602) and Arctophila (p. 605); and its chloroplast DNA to P. tibetica Munro ex Stapf, an Asian member of Poa sect. Aphydris (Griseb.) Tzvelev (Gillespie & Soreng [in prep.]).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Poa alsodes grows in mesic woodlands of eastern Canada and the northeastern United States, extending south to Illinois, Tennessee, and North Carolina, particularly in the Appalachian Mountains.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 24, p. 598. FNA vol. 24.
Parent taxa Poaceae > subfam. Pooideae > tribe Poeae > Poa > subg. Arctopoa > sect. Arctopoa Poaceae > subfam. Pooideae > tribe Poeae > Poa > subg. Poa > sect. Sylvestres
Sibling taxa
P. abbreviata, P. alpina, P. alsodes, P. ammophila, P. annua, P. arachnifera, P. arctica, P. arida, P. arnowiae, P. atropurpurea, P. autumnalis, P. bigelovii, P. bolanderi, P. bulbosa, P. chaixii, P. chambersii, P. chapmaniana, P. compressa, P. confinis, P. curtifolia, P. cusickii, P. cuspidata, P. diaboli, P. douglasii, P. fendleriana, P. glauca, P. hartzii, P. howellii, P. infirma, P. interior, P. keckii, P. kelloggii, P. laxa, P. laxa × glauca, P. laxiflora, P. leibergii, P. leptocoma, P. lettermanii, P. macrantha, P. macrocalyx, P. marcida, P. napensis, P. nemoralis, P. nervosa, P. occidentalis, P. paludigena, P. palustris, P. paucispicula, P. piperi, P. porsildii, P. pratensis, P. pringlei, P. pseudoabbreviata, P. reflexa, P. rhizomata, P. saltuensis, P. secunda, P. sierrae, P. stebbinsii, P. stenantha, P. strictiramea, P. sublanata, P. suksdorfii, P. supina, P. sylvestris, P. tenerrima, P. tracyi, P. trivialis, P. unilateralis, P. wheeleri, P. wolfii, P. ×gaspensis, P. ×limosa, P. ×nematophylla
P. abbreviata, P. alpina, P. ammophila, P. annua, P. arachnifera, P. arctica, P. arida, P. arnowiae, P. atropurpurea, P. autumnalis, P. bigelovii, P. bolanderi, P. bulbosa, P. chaixii, P. chambersii, P. chapmaniana, P. compressa, P. confinis, P. curtifolia, P. cusickii, P. cuspidata, P. diaboli, P. douglasii, P. eminens, P. fendleriana, P. glauca, P. hartzii, P. howellii, P. infirma, P. interior, P. keckii, P. kelloggii, P. laxa, P. laxa × glauca, P. laxiflora, P. leibergii, P. leptocoma, P. lettermanii, P. macrantha, P. macrocalyx, P. marcida, P. napensis, P. nemoralis, P. nervosa, P. occidentalis, P. paludigena, P. palustris, P. paucispicula, P. piperi, P. porsildii, P. pratensis, P. pringlei, P. pseudoabbreviata, P. reflexa, P. rhizomata, P. saltuensis, P. secunda, P. sierrae, P. stebbinsii, P. stenantha, P. strictiramea, P. sublanata, P. suksdorfii, P. supina, P. sylvestris, P. tenerrima, P. tracyi, P. trivialis, P. unilateralis, P. wheeleri, P. wolfii, P. ×gaspensis, P. ×limosa, P. ×nematophylla
Synonyms P. rigens
Name authority J. Presl A. Gray
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