Poa secunda

From Puget Prairie Plants
Revision as of 18:00, 16 January 2021 by Haysar24 (Talk | contribs) (Taxonomy)

  • Latin Name: Poa secunda
  • Family: Poaceae
  • Common Names: big bluegrass, Sandberg bluegrass, Sandberg's bluegrass, Nevada bluegrass
  • Synonyms/Misapplications: Poa fulvescens, Poa tenuifolia
  • CODON: POASEC

Taxonomy

Poa secunda
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Subkingdom: Tracheobionta
Phylum: Spermatophyta
Subphylum: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Subclass: Lilianae
Order: Poales
Family: Poaceae
Genus: Poa L.
Species: Poa secunda J. Presl

Description

Densely tufted perennial herb. Leaf sheaths are nearly open, generally truncate to acuminate. Variable structure in terms of stiffness and margin flatness. Inflorescence is more or less one-sided, generally appressed to rachis to ascending. The spikelet is generally more or less cylindrical, the callus hairless or with a small ring of hairs. Lemma weakly keeled to rounded. [1]

Bloom Period

April-July[2]

Distribution

From Southeastern Alaska across southern Canada, although more sporadically east of the Rockies. Throughout the western states of the US and Great Plains, infrequently in New Mexico and Arizona.[3]

Habitat

Sagebrush deserts, mountain meadows, open forest, lower alpine slopes, saline wetlands, chaparral, prairies.[3][4]

It grows well in rich soils but most commonly grows in rocky, shallow, or sandy soils.[3]

Uses

Documentation of Newe use of seeds as food.[5]

Poa secunda greens up in the spring earlier than other grasses, and is a desirable forage for grazing animals, and increases under grazing pressure. It regenerates after fire, and because of early growth, is often dormant when fires occur.[3]

Propagation

Reproduces by tillering and by seed. P. secunda is wind-pollinated and self-fertile, and can also produce viable seeds without pollination.[3]

Photo Gallery

References

  1. Robert J. Soreng 2012, Poa secunda, in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, /eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=38882, accessed on June 02, 2020.
  2. WTU Herbarium, Burke Museum, & University of Washington. Retrieved from https://biology.burke.washington.edu/herbarium/imagecollection/taxon.php?Taxon=Poa%20secunda
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Howard, Janet L. 1997. Poa secunda. In: Fire Effects Information System, [Online]. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory (Producer). Available: https://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/graminoid/poasec/all.html [2020, June 2]
  4. Hitchcock, C. L., Cronquist, A., Giblin, D., & Legler, B. et al. (2018). Flora of the Pacific Northwest: an illustrated manual. Seattle: University of Washington Press.
  5. Native American Ethnobotany Database. Retrieved from http://naeb.brit.org/uses/search/?string=poa+secunda