Poa fendleriana
Poa paucispicula
Fendler's bluegrass, long-tongue mutton grass, mutton grass, Vasey's mutton grass
Alaska blue grass, few-flower bluegrass
15-70 cm, sometimes stout, erect or the bases decumbent, terete or weakly compressed;
nodes terete, 0-1 exserted.
10-30 cm.
closed for about 1/3 their length, terete, smooth or scabrous, glabrous or occasionally retrorsely pubescent, bases of basal sheaths glabrous, distal sheath lengths usually (5)9+ times blade lengths;
collars smooth or scabrous, glabrous or hispidulous;
ligules 0.2-18 mm, smooth or scabrous, decurrent or not, apices truncate to acuminate, ciliolate or glabrous;
innovation blades usually moderately to densely scabrous or hispidulous on and between the veins, infrequently nearly smooth and glabrous;
cauline blades strongly reduced in length distally, (0.5)1-3(4) mm wide, usually involute, moderately thick and firm, infrequently moderately thin, abaxial surfaces usually smooth, infrequently scabrous, apices narrowly prow-shaped, steeply reduced in length distally along the culm, flag leaf blades often absent or very reduced, sometimes to 1(3) cm.
closed for 1/4 - 3/5 their length, terete;
ligules 1-2 mm, smooth or sparsely scabrous, truncate to obtuse;
blades 1-3 mm wide, flat, thin, soft, apices broadly prow-shaped.
mainly intravaginal, usually some extravaginal.
mainly extravaginal.
2-12(30) cm, erect, contracted, narrowly lanceoloid to ovoid, congested, frequently with 100+ spikelets;
nodes with 1-2 branches;
branches 1-8 cm, erect, terete to weakly angled, smooth or scabrous, with 3-15(25) spikelets.
2.5-10 cm, lax to nearly erect, open, sparse, with 1-2 branches per node;
branches (2)3-6 cm, ascending to spreading, lower branches infrequently reflexed, lax or drooping, capillary, terete to slightly sulcate, usually smooth, rarely some branches within a panicle sparsely scabrous, with 1-3(5) spikelets.
(3)4-8(12) mm, lengths to 3 times widths, broadly lanceolate to ovate, laterally compressed, not sexually dimorphic;
florets 2-7(13);
rachilla internodes 0.8-1.3 mm, smooth, glabrous or hairy, hairs to 0.3 mm.
4-6 mm, laterally compressed, broadly lanceolate to ovate, usually dark purple, with 3-5 florets;
rachilla internodes smooth, glabrous.
lanceolate, distinctly keeled;
lower glumes 1-3-veined, distinctly shorter than the lowest lemmas;
calluses glabrous;
lemmas 3-6 mm, lanceolate, distinctly keeled, keels, marginal veins, and lateral veins glabrous or short- to long-villous or softly puberulent, lateral veins moderately prominent, intercostal regions softly puberulent or glabrous, smooth or sparsely scabrous, margins glabrous, apices acute;
palea keels scabrous, sometimes softly puberulent or long-villous at midlength, hairs to 0.4+ mm;
anthers vestigial (0.1-0.2 mm) or 2-3 mm.
lanceolate to broadly lanceolate, thin, distinctly keeled, keels smooth or nearly so;
lower glumes 1-veined;
upper glumes shorter than or subequal to the lowest lemmas;
calluses sparsely webbed;
lemmas 3-4 mm, broadly lanceolate, usually strongly purple, distinctly keeled, thin, keels and marginal veins short- to long-villous, keels hairy for 1/2-1/3 their length, lateral veins glabrous, intercostal regions smooth, glabrous, margins glabrous, not infolded, apices acute, sometimes slightly bronze-colored;
palea keels sparsely scabrous at midlength;
anthers 0.4-1 mm.
= 28+11, 56, 56-58, 58-64.
= 28, 42.
Poa fendleriana
Poa paucispicula
Poa fendleriana grows on rocky to rich slopes in sagebrush-scrub, interior chaparral, and southern (rarely northern) high plains grasslands to forests, and from desert hills to low alpine habitats. Its range extends from British Columbia to Manitoba and south to Mexico. It is one of the best spring fodder grasses in the eastern Great Basin, Colorado plateaus, and southern Rocky Mountains. It is dioecious. Each of the subspecies has regions of sexual reproduction in which staminate plants are common within populations, and extensive regions where only apomictic, pistillate plants are found. The sexual populations set little seed; the apomictic populations are highly fecund.
Poa fendleriana hybridizes with Poa cusickii subsp. pallida (p. 560). The hybrids are called P. xnematophylla (p. 562).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Poa paucispicula grows in arctic and alpine regions, from the north coast of Alaska and the western Northwest Territories south to Washington, Idaho, and Wyoming; it also grows in arctic far east Russia. It is a delicate species that prefers open, mesic, rocky slopes. It has sometimes been included in P. leptocoma (p. 573), a member of Poa sect. Oreinos. It differs from P. leptocoma in having smoother branches, fewer spikelets, and broader glumes. Chloroplast DNA studies confirm that it is not closely related to species of sect. Oreinos; ITS data support its relationship to P. leptocoma.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Lemma keels and marginal veins glabrous or almost so | subsp. albescens |
1. Lemma keels and marginal veins conspicuously hairy. | → 2 |
2. Ligules of the middle cauline leaves 0.2-1.2 (1.5) mm long, not decurrent, usually scabrous, apices truncate to rounded, upper margins ciliolate or scabrous | subsp. fendleriana |
2. Ligules of the middle cauline leaves (1.5)1.8-18 mm long, decurrent, usually smooth to sparsely scabrous, apices obtuse to acuminate, upper margins usually smooth, glabrous | subsp. longiligula |
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