Poa saltuensis
Poa atropurpurea
old-pasture blue grass
Bernardino bluegrass, San Bernardino blue grass
20-95 cm tall, 0.8-1.5 mm thick.
10-55 cm, erect or the bases decumbent, terete or weakly compressed;
nodes terete, not exserted.
closed for 1/3-2/3 their length;
ligules 0.2-3(4) mm, smooth or sparsely scabrous, truncate to obtuse;
blades 1-3.6 (6) mm wide, flat, thin, lax, veins prominent.
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.
mainly pseudointravaginal.
extra- and intravaginal.
4-20(24) cm long, less than 1/4 the plant height, lax;
nodes with 1-3 branches;
branches ascending to spreading, lax, angled, angles prominent, scabrous.
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.
3-5.6 mm, laterally compressed;
florets 2-5;
rachilla internodes glabrous, usually shorter than 1 mm.
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.
2/3 – 3/4 as long as the adjacent lemmas, distinctly keeled;
lower glumes 1(3)-veined;
upper glumes shorter than or subequal to the lowest lemmas;
calluses webbed;
lemmas 2.4-4 mm, lanceolate to broadly lanceolate, distinctly keeled, usually glabrous, bases of marginal veins rarely sparsely softly puberulent, lateral veins prominent, intercostal regions smooth, minutely bumpy, apices obtuse to sharply acute or acuminate;
palea keels scabrous;
anthers 0.4-1.5 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.
= 28.
Poa saltuensis
Poa atropurpurea
Poa saltuensis grows in woodlands of the north-central and northeastern United States and adjacent Canada, extending south to Tennessee. The two subspecies are sometimes treated as species. The variation between the two overlaps and is correlated to some extent with ecology and geography. Poa marcida (p. 512), a western species once included in P. saltuensis, differs in having closed sheaths and attenuate lemmas.
(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.)
1. Anthers 0.4-1 mm long; lemma apices obtuse to acute, firm or scarious for up to 0.25 mm | subsp. languida |
1. Anthers 0.9-1.5 mm long; lemma apices acute to acuminate, scarious for 0.25-0.5 mm | subsp. saltuensis |
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