Poa saltuensis
Poa tenerrima
old-pasture blue grass
delicate blue grass
20-95 cm tall, 0.8-1.5 mm thick.
15-50 cm tall, slender, 0.8-0.9 mm thick;
nodes terete, 0-1 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 76-74 their length, terete, scabrous, glabrous, bases of basal sheaths glabrous, distal sheath lengths 2.3-7.7 times blade lengths;
collars sparsely scabrous, glabrous;
ligules 0.5-1.5(2.5) mm, scabrous, apices usually truncate to obtuse, sometimes acute, ligules of innovations to 0.5 mm;
innovation blades filiform;
cauline blades gradually reduced in length upwards, 0.4-1.5 mm wide, mostly folded, thin, soft, soon withering, scabrous, apices narrowly prow-shaped.
mainly pseudointravaginal.
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.
5-15 cm, 1.3-2.2 times the branch lengths, erect, broadly rhomboidal to pyramidal, open, purple, sparse, proximal internodes 1.5-4.2 cm;
nodes with 1-2(5) branches;
branches 3-8.5 cm, widely spreading, capillary, straight, terete to weakly angled, moderately to mostly densely scabrous, with 3-9 spikelets in the distal 73.
3-5.6 mm, laterally compressed;
florets 2-5;
rachilla internodes glabrous, usually shorter than 1 mm.
5-8 mm, lengths (3.8)4-5 times widths, usually narrowly lanceolate to lanceolate, subterete to weakly laterally compressed, drab, usually strongly anthocyanic;
florets 3-5;
rachilla internodes 1-1.5+ mm, terete or slightly dorsally compressed, muriculate or scabrous.
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.
lanceolate, distinctly shorter than the adjacent lemmas, scabrous distally, keels indistinct, scabrous, obtuse to acute;
lower glumes 3-veined;
calluses glabrous or with a crown of hairs, hairs to 0.3 mm;
lemmas 3-4.2 mm, lanceolate, weakly keeled, keels, veins, and proximal 2/3 of the intercostal regions puberulent, lateral veins obscure, margins strongly inrolled below, broadly scarious above, glabrous, apices obtuse to acute;
palea keels scabrous, sometimes hairy at midlength;
anthers 1.6-2.1 mm.
= 42.
Poa saltuensis
Poa tenerrima
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 tenerrima is a rare species, endemic to serpentine barrens along the western base of the Sierra Nevada. It differs from P. secunda subsp. secunda (see previous) in combining consistently wide, open panicles, very scabrous branches, short-truncate ligules, and very fine foliage. A series of small, delicate, open-panicled plants from the California Coast Ranges, formerly included in P. tenerrima by Soreng (1993), differ in having smooth branches and longer ligules, and are better referred to P. secunda subsp. secunda. No intergradation is evident where the two taxa grow together. Plants from the Columbia River Gorge in Oregon, including the type of P. multnomae Piper, approach P. tenerrima, but are presumed to be derived from hybridization between P. nervosa (p. 545) and P. secunda (p. 586).
(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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