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bog bluegrass, eastern bog bluegrass

Pringle's blue grass

Habit Plants perennial; usually pale green; loosely tufted, slender, usually neither stoloniferous nor rhizomatous, occasionally with short, slender rhizomes. Plants perennial; densely tufted, not stoloniferous, not rhizomatous.
Culms

10-55 cm, very slender, weak.

5-35 cm tall, 0.5-0.9 mm thick, erect or the bases decumbent, with 0(1) exserted nodes.

Sheaths

closed for 1/4 - 3/5 their length, terete, smooth or sparsely scabrous, margins not ciliate;

ligules 0.5-2 mm, smooth or sparsely scabrous, truncate;

blades 0.8-2 mm wide, flat, thin, soft, apices narrowly prow-shaped.

closed for 1/7 - 1/3 their length, terete, smooth or sparsely scabrous, glabrous, bases of basal sheaths glabrous, distal sheath lengths 2-4 times blade lengths;

collar margins smooth or scabrous to hispidulous;

ligules of cauline leaves 1-6 mm, colorless, translucent, smooth or scabrous, truncate to acute, ligules of the innovations 1-2.5 mm;

innovation blades similar to the cauline blades, 1.5-3 mm wide, involute, thick, frequently somewhat arcuate, abaxial surfaces smooth, adaxial surfaces densely scabrous or hispidulous;

cauline blades becoming only slightly shorter distally, 1.5-3 mm wide, involute, moderately thick, soft to moderately firm, abaxial surfaces smooth, apices narrowly prow-shaped.

Basal branching

mostly extravaginal.

intravaginal.

Panicles

3-8(12) cm, lax, open, sparse;

nodes with 1-2(3) branches;

branches (2)3-7 cm, spreading to reflexed, capillary, angled, angles scabrous.

1-6 cm, erect, narrowly lanceoloid to ovoid, moderately congested, with 6-20(25) spikelets;

nodes with 1-2 branches;

branches 0.5-1.5(2) cm, erect, moderately stout, terete or weakly angled, angles smooth to fairly densely scabrous, with 1-3 spikelets.

Spikelets

3.2-5.2 mm, laterally compressed, broadly lanceolate to ovate;

florets 2-3(5);

rachilla internodes smooth, glabrous.

6-8(12) mm, lengths to 3.5 times widths, broadly lanceolate, laterally compressed, not sexually dimorphic, lustrous;

florets 2-5;

rachilla internodes smooth.

Glumes

narrowly lanceolate to lanceolate, thin, distinctly keeled, keels scabrous;

lower glumes 1-3-veined;

upper glumes shorter than or subequal to the adjacent lemmas;

calluses sparsely webbed;

lemmas 2.5-4 mm, lanceolate, green, distinctly keeled, keels and marginal veins short-villous, extending 2/3 – 4/5 the keel length, lateral veins fairly prominent, intercostal regions glabrous, apices obtuse to broadly acute, white, faintly bronze-colored or not;

palea keels scabrous;

anthers 0.2-0.8 mm.

subequal, isomorphic, lanceolate to broadly lanceolate, thin, lustrous, distinctly keeled, keels smooth or sparsely scabrous;

lower glumes shorter than the adjacent lemmas, 3-veined;

calluses glabrous;

lemmas 5-8 mm, lanceolate, distinctly keeled, thinly membranous, smooth or sparsely finely scabrous, glabrous, lateral veins moderately prominent, margins glabrous, apices acute;

palea keels coarsely scabrous;

anthers vestigial (0.1-0.2 mm) or 2-4 mm.

2n

= unknown.

= unknown.

Poa paludigena

Poa pringlei

Distribution
from FNA
IA; IL; IN; MI; MN; NC; NJ; NY; OH; PA; VA; WI; WV
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA; NV; OR
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Poa paludigena is an inconspicuous species restricted to the northeastern United States. It grows in shady bogs and fens, often underneath other plants. Poa trivialis (p. 568) sometimes grows with P. paludigena; the former has distinctly longer ligules and anthers. Plants from the middle Appalachian Mountains are sometimes confused with P. sylvestris (p. 512). Poa paludigena is generally shorter and more slender, has shorter panicles with only 1-2 branches per node, is glabrous between the lemma veins and on the palea keels, has shorter anthers, and grows in colder habitats.

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

Poa pringlei grows on rocky subalpine and alpine slopes in Oregon and California. Sexual populations, with approximately equal numbers of pistillate and staminate plants, are confined to the Klamath-Siskiyou region; Sierra Nevada populations are pistillate and apomictic. Hitchock (1951) included P. cusickii subsp. pallida (p. 560), P. keckii (p. 584), and P. suksdorfii (p. 584) in P. pringlei; the illustration (Fig. 171) is of P. cuscikii subsp. pallida.

Hybrids otPoa pringlei with P. cusickii (p. 560) have been found on Mount Shasta, California, Mount Rose, Nevada, and near Crater Lake, Oregon. Poa pringlei differs from P. curtifolia (p. 589) in being dioecious and in having blades that are involute, soft to moderately firm, and abaxially pubescent.

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

Source FNA vol. 24, p. 572. FNA vol. 24, p. 564.
Parent taxa Poaceae > subfam. Pooideae > tribe Poeae > Poa > subg. Poa > sect. Oreinos Poaceae > subfam. Pooideae > tribe Poeae > Poa > subg. Poa > sect. Madropoa > subsect. Epiles
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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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
Name authority Fernald & Wiegand Scribn.
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