MANUAL OF THE GRASSES OF THE UNITED STATES 



125 



spikelets 2- to 4-flowered, about 4 mm long; glumes lanceolate, acute, 

 shorter than the first floret; lemmas 2.5 to 3 mm long, usually bronzed 

 at the tip, webbed at base, villous on the keel and marginal nerves, 

 the intermediate nerves faint. % — Meadows and moist open 



Figure 218— Poa palustris. Panicle, X l; floret, X 10. (Suksdorf 7022, Wash.) 



ground, at low and medium altitudes, Newfoundland and Quebec, 

 south to Virginia, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, and California 

 (Sierra Valley) (fig. 219); Eurasia. 



39. Poa interior Rydb. Inland bluegrass. 

 (Fig. 220.) Culms erect from a usually densely 

 tufted erect base, commonly rather stiff, often 

 scabrous below the panicle, 20 to 50 cm tall; 

 sheaths slightly keeled or terete; ligule evident 

 but usually less than 1 mm long; blades 1 to 2 

 mm wide; panicle narrowly pyramidal, 5 to 10 

 cm long, the branches ascending; spikelets 

 about as in P. palustris. % — Grassy slopes 



and open woods at me- 

 dium altitudes, usually 



not extending much 



above timber line, Quebec 



to British Columbia and 



Washington , south to 



Vermont, Michigan, 



Minnesota, western 



Nebraska, New Mexico, 

 and Arizona (fig. 221). 



4. Alpinae. — Perennials without creeping rhi- 

 zomes; lemmas not webbed at base, pubes- 

 cent on the keel or on the marginal nerves, 

 or both, sometimes also pubescent on 

 internerves. 



40. Poa fendleriana (Steud.) Vasey. Mutton 

 grass. (Fig. 222.) Incompletely dioecious; culms erect, tufted, sca- 

 brous below the panicle, 30 to 50 cm tall; sheaths somewhat scabrous; 

 ligule less than 1 mm long, not noticeable viewed from the side of the 

 sheath; blades mostly basal, folded or involute, firm and stiff; panicle 

 long-exserted, oblong, contracted, pale, 2 to 7 cm long; spikelets 5- 



Figuee 219.— Distribution of 

 Poa palustris. 



Figure 220.— Poa interior. 

 Panicle, XI; floret, X 10. 

 (Clements 297, Colo.) 



