Poa saltuensis |
Poa marcida |
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old-pasture blue grass |
weeping bluegrass, withered blue grass |
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Habit | Plants perennial; not rhizomatous, not stoloniferous, loosely tufted. | Plants perennial; not rhizomatous, not stoloniferous, sometimes shortly rhizomatous, loosely to densely tufted. | ||||
Culms | 20-95 cm tall, 0.8-1.5 mm thick. |
20-80 cm. |
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Sheaths | 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 at least 9/10 their length; ligules 0.5-2 mm, smooth, truncate; blades 1.5-5 mm wide, flat, lax. |
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Basal branching | mainly pseudointravaginal. |
mainly pseudointravaginal. |
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Panicles | 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. |
6-22 cm, lax, narrowly lanceoloid, sparse; nodes with 1-3 branches; branches ascending, lax, angled, angles scabrous. |
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Spikelets | 3-5.6 mm, laterally compressed; florets 2-5; rachilla internodes glabrous, usually shorter than 1 mm. |
3.5-7 mm laterally compressed; florets (1)2(4); rachilla internodes about 1 mm, smooth, glabrous. |
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Glumes | 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. |
distinctly keeled, keels scabrous; lower glumes 1-veined; upper glumes shorter than or subequal to the lowest lemmas; calluses webbed, webs sparse; lemmas 3.2-5 mm, narrowly lanceolate, distinctly keeled, glabrous, acuminate; palea keels scabrous, sometimes sparsely so; anthers 0.5-1.2 mm. |
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2n | = unknown. |
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Poa saltuensis |
Poa marcida |
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Distribution |
CT; IA; IL; IN; KY; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; NC; NH; NJ; NY; OH; PA; RI; TN; VA; VT; WI; WV; LB; NB; NS; ON; PE; QC
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OR; WA; BC |
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Discussion | 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 marcida is an uncommon endemic of breaks in rich, mesic, generally old growth forests of the Pacific coast, from Vancouver Island through the western foothills of the northern Cascade Mountains to central Oregon. It differs from P. saltuensis (p. 510) in its closed sheaths and attenuate lemmas. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 24, p. 510. | FNA vol. 24, p. 512. | ||||
Parent taxa | Poaceae > subfam. Pooideae > tribe Poeae > Poa > subg. Poa > sect. Sylvestres | Poaceae > subfam. Pooideae > tribe Poeae > Poa > subg. Poa > sect. Sylvestres | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Synonyms | P. saltuensis var. microlepis, P. languida | |||||
Name authority | Fernald & Wiegand | Hitchc. | ||||
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