Poa saltuensis

Fernald & Wiegand
Common names: Oldpasture bluegrass
Endemic
Synonyms: Poa saltuensis var. microlepis
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 24. Treatment on page 510.
Please click on the illustration for a higher resolution version.
Illustrator: Sandy Long

Copyright: Utah State University

Plants perennial; not rhizomatous, not stoloniferous, loosely tufted. Basal branching mainly pseudointravaginal. Culms 20-95 cm tall, 0.8-1.5 mm thick. 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. 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. Spikelets 3-5.6 mm, laterally compressed; florets 2-5; rachilla internodes glabrous, usually shorter than 1 mm. 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.

Distribution

Conn., N.J., N.Y., Wis., W.Va., N.H., N.C., Tenn., Pa., R.I., N.B., Nfld. and Labr. (Labr.), N.S., Ont., P.E.I., Que., Va., Mass., Maine, Vt., Ill., Ind., Iowa, Md., Ohio, Minn., Mich., Ky.

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.

Selected References

None.

Key

1 Anthers 0.4-1 mm long; lemma apices obtuse to acute, firm or scarious for up to 0.25 mm Poa saltuensis subsp. languida
1 Anthers 0.9-1.5 mm long; lemma apices acute to acuminate, scarious for 0.25-0.5 mm Poa saltuensis subsp. saltuensis
... more about "Poa saltuensis"
Robert J. Soreng +
Fernald & Wiegand +
Oldpasture bluegrass +
Conn. +, N.J. +, N.Y. +, Wis. +, W.Va. +, N.H. +, N.C. +, Tenn. +, Pa. +, R.I. +, N.B. +, Nfld. and Labr. (Labr.) +, N.S. +, Ont. +, P.E.I. +, Que. +, Va. +, Mass. +, Maine +, Vt. +, Ill. +, Ind. +, Iowa +, Md. +, Ohio +, Minn. +, Mich. +  and Ky. +
Poa saltuensis var. microlepis +
Poa saltuensis +
Poa sect. Sylvestres +
species +