Poa saltuensis
Poa stebbinsii
old-pasture blue grass
Stebbins' blue grass
20-95 cm tall, 0.8-1.5 mm thick.
10-30(40) cm, mostly erect, with 0-1 slightly exposed nodes.
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 1/5 – 2/5 their length, terete, smooth and glabrous, bases of basal sheaths glabrous, distal sheath lengths 1.4-3.6 times blade lengths;
collars smooth, glabrous;
ligules of cauline leaves 3-8 mm, colorless, transparent, smooth, margins decurrent, apices obtuse to acuminate, ligules of the innovation leaves 2.5-6 mm;
innovation blades similar to the cauline blades, 1-2 mm wide, involute, moderately thick, abaxial surfaces smooth, adaxial surfaces smooth or sparsely scabrous, sometimes sparsely hispidulous;
cauline blades gradually reduced in length distally, 1-2 mm wide, folded or involute, moderately thick, soft, abaxial surfaces smooth, apices narrowly prow-shaped.
mainly pseudointravaginal.
strictly extravaginal.
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 or slightly nodding, narrowly lanceoloid to narrowly ovoid, often interrupted, contracted to loosely contracted, with 9-38(60) spikelets;
nodes with 1-2 branches;
branches 0.5-1.5(2.5) cm, erect at maturity, slender, terete to sulcate or weakly angled, sparsely to moderately scabrous, with 1-5 spikelets.
3-5.6 mm, laterally compressed;
florets 2-5;
rachilla internodes glabrous, usually shorter than 1 mm.
4-6.5 mm, lengths to 3.5 times widths, lanceolate, laterally compressed, not sexually dimorphic, usually strongly anthocyanic, less so in pistillate plants;
florets 2-4;
rachilla internodes smooth, glabrous or sparsely hispidulous.
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.
unequal, lanceolate, thin, lustrous, distinctly keeled, keels and distal surface smooth or sparsely finely scabrous;
lower glumes 3-veined, distinctly shorter than the lowest lemmas;
calluses glabrous;
lemmas 3.5-5.5 mm, lanceolate, distinctly keeled, thinly membranous, smooth or sparsely scabrous, glabrous, lateral veins moderately prominent, margins glabrous, apices acute;
palea keels finely scabrous;
anthers vestigial (0.1-0.2 mm) or 2-4.5 mm.
= 42, 81 (both counts of uncertain application).
Poa saltuensis
Poa stebbinsii
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 stebbinsii is endemic to the high Sierra Nevada. It grows primarily in the outer margins of subalpine wet meadows, and is gynodioecious. It is easily recognized by its long hyaline ligules, thin glabrous lemmas, and the absence of intravaginal shoots. It was confused with P. bansenii Scribn. [= P. cusickii subsp. cusickii] by Keck in Munz (1959), and with P. leibergii by Hitchcock (1951).
(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 |
Go Botany
IL Wildflowers
MD Biodiversity
MI Flora
MN Wildflowers
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
CA
