Poa leptocoma
Poa ×limosa
bog bluegrass, marsh blue grass, western bog bluegrass
hybrid bluegrass, Lassen County bluegrass
15-100 cm, slender to middling.
20-80 cm, erect or the bases decumbent.
closed for 1/4 - 3/5 their length, terete, smooth or sparsely scabrous, margins not ciliate;
ligules 1.5-4(6) mm, smooth to sparsely scabrous, obtuse to acute;
blades 1-4 mm wide, flat, thin, lax, soft, apices narrowly prow-shaped.
usually closed for about 1/6 their length;
ligules 1-4 mm, smooth or sparsely scabrous, apices obtuse to acute;
innovation blades 0.5-2 mm wide;
cauline blades 0.5-5 mm wide, flat, folded, abaxial surfaces smooth or scabrous, apices narrowly prow-shaped.
mostly extravaginal.
5-15 cm, lax, open, sparse;
nodes with 1-3(5) branches;
branches (2)3-8 cm, spreading to reflexed, capillary, usually angled, infrequently only sulcate or subterete, angles usually moderately densely scabrous, sometimes only sparsely so, with (3)4-15 spikelets.
5-15 cm, erect, usually contracted, sometimes interrupted;
branches shorter than 4 cm, erect, angles somewhat scabrous.
4-8 mm, lanceolate or narrowly lanceolate, green or partly purple to dark purple;
florets 2-5;
rachilla internodes smooth, glabrous.
4-7 mm, weakly laterally compressed;
florets 2-5;
rachilla internodes smooth.
subulate to lanceolate, thin, distinctly keeled, keels usually scabrous;
lower glumes subulate to narrowly lanceolate, 1-veined;
upper glumes distinctly shorter than to nearly equaling the lowest lemmas;
calluses sparsely webbed;
lemmas 3-4 mm, lanceolate, often partly purple, distinctly keeled, thin, smooth, or with sparse hooks apically, keels and marginal veins softly puberulent to long-villous, hairs extending 1/4 - 2/3 the keel length, sometimes sparse, lateral veins and intercostal regions glabrous, margins glabrous, infolded, apices sharply acute to acuminate, usually bronze-colored;
palea keels nearly smooth, scabrous, or pectinately ciliate;
anthers 0.2-1.1 mm.
3-veined;
calluses glabrous or webbed, hairs to 1/4 the lemma length;
lemmas 2.5-4.5 mm, narrowly lanceolate, distinctly to weakly keeled, glabrous throughout or the keels and marginal veins sparsely long-villous, apices acute;
palea keels scabrous;
anthers aborted late in development or 1.3-2.2 mm.
= 42.
= 64.
Poa leptocoma
Poa ×limosa
Poa leptocoma grows around lakes and ponds and along streams, in subalpine and alpine to low arctic habitats, in western North America from Alaska to California and New Mexico, and on the Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia. It often grows with or near P. reflexa (p. 538), from which it differs in its more scabrous panicle branches, shorter anthers, glabrous or pectinately ciliate palea keels, and preference for wet sites. The two also differ in their ploidy level, P. leptocoma being hexaploid, and P. reflexa tetraploid. It differs from P. paucispicula (p. 538) in its more scabrous panicle branches, narrower glumes and lemmas, and its more sparsely hairy calluses and lemmas. Although its chloroplast haplotype is similar to that of species in sect. Oreinos, its ITS sequence is distinct and resembles that of P. paucispicula.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Poa xlimosa grows at scattered locations in western North America. It prefers wet to moist, often saline or alkaline meadows, primarily in the sagebrush zone. It is probably a hybrid between P. pratensis (p. 522) and P. secunda subsp. juncifolia (p. 586). Vigorous artificial hybrids of this parentage have been produced; they resemble P. xlimosa.
Poa ×limosa is a named intersectional hybrid
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
- Local floras:
BC, 
OR, 
WA - Local Web sites:
CalFlora, CalPhotos, 
Flora NW, 
PNW Herbaria 
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist (observations)
USDA Plants Database- LBJ Wildflower Center
- SEINet
- Plants of the World Online
- Encyclopedia of Life
- Wikipedia
- Google Image Search
