Poa wolfii |
Poa arachnifera |
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Wolf's bluegrass |
Texas bluegrass |
|
Habit | Plants perennial; not rhizomatous, not stoloniferous, loosely tufted. | Plants perennial; loosely tufted, rhizomatous, rhizomes slender. |
Culms | 25-90 cm. |
20-85 cm, erect, terete or weakly compressed; nodes terete, 0-1 exserted. |
Sheaths | closed for 1/2 - 3/4 their length, smooth or sparsely scabrous, margins not ciliate; ligules 0.3-2.1 mm, smooth or sparsely scabrous, truncate to obtuse, ciliolate; blades 0.6-3.5 mm wide, flat. |
closed firmly for 1/7-1/3 their length, sometimes for a longer distance by a hyaline membrane, terete, smooth, glabrous, bases of basal sheaths glabrous; ligules 1-4 mm, smooth or scabrous; innovation blades 10-35 cm long, 1-3.5 mm wide; cauline blades 2-25 cm long, 1.5-4.5 mm wide, flat or folded, lax, both surfaces smooth or sparsely finely scabrous, glabrous, apices narrowly to broadly prow-shaped. |
Basal branching | mainly pseudointravaginal. |
intra- and extravaginal. |
Panicles | 7.5-15(18) cm, lax, pyramidal, open, sparse; nodes with 1-3(5) branches; branches 3-8 cm, ascending, straight to spreading, angled, angles prominent, scabrous. |
3-12(18) cm, erect, narrowly cylindrical, often interrupted or lobed, congested, with (70)100-200 spikelets; nodes with (2)3-7(9) branches; branches 1-3(5) cm, erect to slightly ascending, terete or weakly angled, sparsely to densely coarsely scabrous, with 8-30 spikelets. |
Spikelets | 4-6.5 mm, laterally compressed; florets 2-5; rachilla internodes to 1 mm, smooth, glabrous. |
4-8(10) mm, sexually dimorphic, laterally compressed, pistillate spikelets larger, with fewer florets and more pubescence than the staminate spikelets; florets 2-10; rachilla internodes smooth. |
Glumes | 1/2-1/3 the length of the adjacent lemmas, distinctly keeled, keels scabrous; lower glumes subulate to narrowly lanceolate, (1)3-veined; upper glumes shorter than or subequal to the lowest lemmas; calluses webbed; lemmas (2.5)3.2-4.7 mm, lanceolate, green, distinctly keeled, keels and marginal veins long-villous, hairs extending up almost the whole keel length, lateral veins prominent, intercostal regions smooth, minutely bumpy, usually glabrous, rarely sparsely softly puberulent, apices acute, blunt, or pointed, white, not bronze; palea keels softly puberulent at midlength, apices scabrous; anthers (0.5)0.8-1.2(1.5) mm. |
unequal, distinctly keeled, keels and lateral veins scabrous; lower glumes 1-3-veined. |
Pistillate florets | calluses copiously 3-webbed, hairs 4-10 mm, mostly silky, plicate; lemmas 4.2-6.4 mm, lanceolate, 5-7 veined, distinctly keeled, glabrous, or the keels and marginal veins, sometimes also the lateral veins, densely long-villous, margins glabrous, apices acute; palea keels scabrous, glabrous or sometimes softly puberulent to long-villous at midlength. |
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Staminate florets | calluses glabrous or sparsely dorsally webbed, hairs plicate, rarely with additional webs under the marginal veins; lemmas 3.5-5 mm, lanceolate, distinctly keeled, keels and marginal veins sparsely short- to long-villous, margins glabrous, apices acute; palea keels scabrous, glabrous or softly puberulent to long-villous at midlength; anthers vestigial (0.1-0.2 mm) or 1.6-2.7 mm. |
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2n | = 28. |
= 42, ca. 54, 56, ca. 63, 84. |
Poa wolfii |
Poa arachnifera |
|
Distribution |
AR; IA; IL; IN; MN; MO; OH; VA; WI
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AL; AR; FL; GA; IL; KS; LA; MS; NC; NM; OK; SC; TN; TX
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Discussion | Poa wolfii is an uncommon species that grows in boggy areas of eastern deciduous forests, primarily west of the Appalachian divide. It differs from P. sylvestris (p. 512) in having fewer branches, larger spikelets, and lemmas that are usually glabrous between the veins. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Poa arachnifera grows on moist, sandy to rich, black bottomlands of the southern Great Plains. At one time it was cultivated for winter pasture in the southeastern United States. It is strictly dioecious, with a 1:1 ratio of staminate to pistillate plants among herbarium samples. The variable and high chromosome numbers suggest it may be apomictic, but the occurrence of equal numbers of staminate and pistillate individuals in populations seems to suggest that reproduction is primarily sexual. It is the only non-South American species in the section. Its closest relatives appear to be P. bonariensis (Lam.) Kunth and P. lanuginosa Poir. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 24, p. 514. | FNA vol. 24. |
Parent taxa | Poaceae > subfam. Pooideae > tribe Poeae > Poa > subg. Poa > sect. Sylvestres | Poaceae > subfam. Pooideae > tribe Poeae > Poa > subg. Poa > sect. Dioicopoa |
Sibling taxa | ||
Name authority | Scribn. | Torr. |
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