Poa reflexa |
Poa atropurpurea |
|
---|---|---|
nodding bluegrass |
Bernardino bluegrass, San Bernardino blue grass |
|
Habit | Plants perennial, short-lived; densely tufted, tuft bases narrow or not, not stoloniferous, not rhizomatous. | Plants perennial; loosely tufted, rhizomatous. |
Culms | 10-60 cm. |
10-55 cm, erect or the bases decumbent, terete or weakly compressed; nodes terete, not exserted. |
Sheaths | closed for 1/3 – 2/3 their length, terete, smooth; ligules 1.5-3.5 mm, smooth or sparsely scabrous; blades 1.5-4 mm wide, flat, thin, soft, apices broadly prow-shaped. |
closed for about 1/3 their length, terete, smooth, glabrous, bases of basal sheaths glabrous, distal sheath lengths 1.5-7.5 times blade lengths; collars smooth, glabrous; ligules 1-2 mm, smooth or sparsely scabrous, apices truncate to obtuse; innovation blades similar to the cauline blades, adaxial surfaces nearly smooth, glabrous on and between the veins; cauline blades fairly strongly reduced in length distally, 1-3 mm wide, folded to involute, moderately thick, moderately firm, abaxial surfaces smooth, apices narrowly prow-shaped, flag leaf blades 1-5.5 cm. |
Basal branching | mixed intra- and extravaginal. |
extra- and intravaginal. |
Panicles | 4-15 cm, nodding, open, with numerous spikelets and 1-2 branches per node; branches (2)3-7 cm, spreading to reflexed, lower branches usually reflexed, flexuous, usually terete, smooth or sparsely scabrous, with (3)6-18 spikelets. |
3-7 cm, erect, lanceoloid to ovoid, congested, with 20-70 spikelets; nodes with 1-2 branches; branches 0.5-3 cm, erect, terete, usually smooth, infrequently sparsely scabrous distally, with 3-12 spikelets. |
Spikelets | 4-6 mm, lanceolate to broadly lanceolate, usually partly to wholly purplish, with 3-5 florets; rachilla internodes shorter than 1 mm, smooth. |
3.5-5.5 mm, lengths to 3 times widths, laterally compressed, very compact, not sexually dimorphic; florets 2-5; rachilla internodes about 0.5 mm, smooth, glabrous. |
Glumes | narrowly to broadly lanceolate, distinctly keeled, keels smooth or nearly so; lower glumes 1-veined; upper glumes shorter than or subequal to the lowest lemmas; calluses webbed; lemmas 2-3.5 mm, lanceolate, partly purple to fairly strongly purple, distinctly keeled, keels and marginal veins short- to long-villous, keels hairy for 2h-ls their length, lateral veins usually sparsely softly puberulent at least on 1 side, lateral veins obscure to moderately prominent, intercostal regions smooth, minutely bumpy, glabrous, apices acute, slightly bronze-colored or not; palea keels scabrous, usually softly puberulent at midlength; anthers 0.6-1 mm. |
broadly lanceolate, distinctly shorter than the adjacent lemmas, distinctly keeled, keels smooth or sparsely scabrous; lower glumes 3-veined; calluses glabrous; lemmas 2.5-3.5 mm, lanceolate, usually purplish, distinctly keeled, glabrous, smooth, margins glabrous, apices acute; palea keels scabrous, intercostal regions glabrous; anthers vestigial (0.1-0.2 mm) or 1.5-2 mm. |
2n | = 28. |
= 28. |
Poa reflexa |
Poa atropurpurea |
|
Distribution |
AZ; CO; ID; MT; NM; NV; OR; UT; WY
|
CA |
Discussion | Poa reflexa grows in subalpine forests, meadows, and low alpine habitats, primarily in the central and southern Rocky Mountains. It usually grows on drier and more disturbed sites, and appears shorter-lived, than the frequently sympatric or parapatric P. leptocoma (p. 573), from which it differs in usually having hairs on the palea keels and lateral veins of the lemmas, and smooth panicle branches. In addition, P. reflexa is tetraploid, whereas P. leptocoma is hexaploid. Poa reflexa may resemble small plants of P. occidentalis (see previous) in habit. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Poa atropurpurea is a rare dioecious endemic of mesic upland meadows in southern California. It is federally listed as endangered. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 24, p. 538. | FNA vol. 24, p. 554. |
Parent taxa | Poaceae > subfam. Pooideae > tribe Poeae > Poa > subg. Poa > sect. Homalopoa | Poaceae > subfam. Pooideae > tribe Poeae > Poa > subg. Poa > sect. Madropoa > subsect. Madropoa |
Sibling taxa | ||
Name authority | Vasey & Scribn. | Scribn. |
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