MANUAL OF THE GRASSES OF THE UNITED STATES 



111 



cate, about 1 mm. long; blades 3 to 6 

 mm. wide; panicle open, 5 to 15 cm. 

 long, nodding, the rather distant 

 branches spreading or reflexed, naked 

 below; spikelets 5 to 10 mm. long, 2- 

 to 6-flowered; lemmas lanceolate, sub- 

 acute, slightly scaberulous, some- 

 times slightly pubescent on the back 

 at base, without a web, 4 to 5.5 mm. 



open, usually 5 to 10 cm. long, the 

 apex nodding, the branches mostly in 

 twos or threes, naked below; lemmas 

 rather strongly nerved, glabrous or 

 pubescent on the lower part of the 

 nerves. % (P. wheeleri Vasey; P. 

 olneyae Piper.) — Open woods at me- 

 dium altitudes, Alberta and British 

 Columbia, south in the mountains to 



Figure 128. — Poa curta. Panicle, X 1 ; floret, X 10. (Jones 5573, Utah.) 



long, rather strongly nerved or inter- 

 mediate nerves faint. % — Moist 

 shady places at medium altitudes, 

 western Wyoming, southern Idaho, 

 and Utah. 



15. Poa nervosa (Hook.) Vasey. 

 Wheeler bluegrass. (Fig. 129.) 

 Culms erect, 30 to 60 cm. tall ; sheaths 

 glabrous or the lower retrorsely pu- 

 bescent, often purple, the collar often 

 puberulent; ligule 1 to 2 mm. long; 

 blades sometimes folded; panicle 



Colorado, New Mexico, and Cali- 

 fornia. Typical P. nervosa (including 

 P. olneyae) found mostly in Wash- 

 ington and Oregon, has glabrous to 

 scaberulous strongly nerved lemmas, 

 glabrous sheaths, and a loose open 

 panicle, the capillary lower branches 

 in whorls of 3 or 4, drooping, as much 

 as 8 cm. long; typical P. wheeleri, 

 originally described from Colorado, 

 has firmer, less strongly nerved lem- 

 mas, more or less pubescent on the 



