Poa wolfii |
Poa fendleriana |
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Wolf's bluegrass |
Fendler's bluegrass, long-tongue mutton grass, mutton grass, Vasey's mutton grass |
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Habit | Plants perennial; not rhizomatous, not stoloniferous, loosely tufted. | Plants perennial; densely to loosely tufted, rhizomatous, often weakly so, rhizomes usually short and inconspicuous. | ||||||||
Culms | 25-90 cm. |
15-70 cm, sometimes stout, erect or the bases decumbent, terete or weakly compressed; nodes terete, 0-1 exserted. |
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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 for about 1/3 their length, terete, smooth or scabrous, glabrous or occasionally retrorsely pubescent, bases of basal sheaths glabrous, distal sheath lengths usually (5)9+ times blade lengths; collars smooth or scabrous, glabrous or hispidulous; ligules 0.2-18 mm, smooth or scabrous, decurrent or not, apices truncate to acuminate, ciliolate or glabrous; innovation blades usually moderately to densely scabrous or hispidulous on and between the veins, infrequently nearly smooth and glabrous; cauline blades strongly reduced in length distally, (0.5)1-3(4) mm wide, usually involute, moderately thick and firm, infrequently moderately thin, abaxial surfaces usually smooth, infrequently scabrous, apices narrowly prow-shaped, steeply reduced in length distally along the culm, flag leaf blades often absent or very reduced, sometimes to 1(3) cm. |
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Basal branching | mainly pseudointravaginal. |
mainly intravaginal, usually some extravaginal. |
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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. |
2-12(30) cm, erect, contracted, narrowly lanceoloid to ovoid, congested, frequently with 100+ spikelets; nodes with 1-2 branches; branches 1-8 cm, erect, terete to weakly angled, smooth or scabrous, with 3-15(25) spikelets. |
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Spikelets | 4-6.5 mm, laterally compressed; florets 2-5; rachilla internodes to 1 mm, smooth, glabrous. |
(3)4-8(12) mm, lengths to 3 times widths, broadly lanceolate to ovate, laterally compressed, not sexually dimorphic; florets 2-7(13); rachilla internodes 0.8-1.3 mm, smooth, glabrous or hairy, hairs to 0.3 mm. |
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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. |
lanceolate, distinctly keeled; lower glumes 1-3-veined, distinctly shorter than the lowest lemmas; calluses glabrous; lemmas 3-6 mm, lanceolate, distinctly keeled, keels, marginal veins, and lateral veins glabrous or short- to long-villous or softly puberulent, lateral veins moderately prominent, intercostal regions softly puberulent or glabrous, smooth or sparsely scabrous, margins glabrous, apices acute; palea keels scabrous, sometimes softly puberulent or long-villous at midlength, hairs to 0.4+ mm; anthers vestigial (0.1-0.2 mm) or 2-3 mm. |
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2n | = 28. |
= 28+11, 56, 56-58, 58-64. |
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Poa wolfii |
Poa fendleriana |
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Distribution |
AR; IA; IL; IN; MN; MO; OH; VA; WI
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AZ; CA; CO; ID; MT; ND; NE; NM; NV; OK; OR; SD; TX; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC; MB
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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 fendleriana grows on rocky to rich slopes in sagebrush-scrub, interior chaparral, and southern (rarely northern) high plains grasslands to forests, and from desert hills to low alpine habitats. Its range extends from British Columbia to Manitoba and south to Mexico. It is one of the best spring fodder grasses in the eastern Great Basin, Colorado plateaus, and southern Rocky Mountains. It is dioecious. Each of the subspecies has regions of sexual reproduction in which staminate plants are common within populations, and extensive regions where only apomictic, pistillate plants are found. The sexual populations set little seed; the apomictic populations are highly fecund. Poa fendleriana hybridizes with Poa cusickii subsp. pallida (p. 560). The hybrids are called P. xnematophylla (p. 562). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 24, p. 514. | FNA vol. 24, p. 556. | ||||||||
Parent taxa | Poaceae > subfam. Pooideae > tribe Poeae > Poa > subg. Poa > sect. Sylvestres | Poaceae > subfam. Pooideae > tribe Poeae > Poa > subg. Poa > sect. Madropoa > subsect. Madropoa | ||||||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||
Name authority | Scribn. | (Steud.) Vasey | ||||||||
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