Plains Bluegrass

plains bluegrass

prairie speargrass

Cover value of plains bluegrass for small mammals, small birds, and upland game birds has been rated as fair [5].

More info for the terms: cool-season, perfect

Plains bluegrass is a native, cool-season perennial from 12 to 32 inches (30-80 cm) tall [8,18,29]. The panicle is compact to infrequently open. Spikelets have 3 to 7 perfect flowers. Plains bluegrass is shortly rhizomatous to nearly arhizomatous. Plants in the Intermountain region consistently have rhizomes, while some plants in the Great Plains may be nearly arhizomatous [8,10]. In Wyoming, rhizomes of plains bluegrass have been described as "short but abundant" [18].

Plains bluegrass occurs from British Columbia east to Manitoba and south to Minnesota, Texas, and New Mexico [8,10,12,24]. It is most common east of the Continental Divide [10,24].

Plants previously identified as plains bluegrass in Utah are probably arctic bluegrass [17,24], and plants previously identified as plains bluegrass in Arizona are probably mutton grass [24].

More info for the terms: seed, tiller, top-kill

Studies of the fire ecology and successional status of plains bluegrass are lacking. Most plains bluegrass probably sprout from rhizomes after top-kill by fire. Plants that are nearly arhizomatous probably tiller after top-kill. Ability of plains bluegrass to establish from seed after fire or other disturbance cannot be assessed until further data are available.

For information on FIRE REGIMES of ecosystems in which plains bluegrass occurs, see FEIS reviews on Bouteloua gracilis, Buchloe dactyloides, Distichlis spicata, and Hesperostipa comata.

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More info for the term: geophyte

Geophyte

Plains bluegrass occurs on disturbed sites, pastures, meadows, prairies, piedmont valleys, foothills, and alpine sites [8,10,21,24].

Soils with plains bluegrass are often alkaline and/or sandy [8,10,15,21,24]. In South Dakota, plains bluegrass occurs on saline, sulfate-dominated soils near Stink and Bitter lakes in Codington and Day counties, respectively. Soil pH averages 7.9 on sites with plains bluegrass [26].

Unlike most bluegrasses (Poa spp.), plains bluegrass tolerates dry soils [24]. Soil moisture is highly variable, however; plains bluegrass occurs on arid, well-drained soils and on wet, sometimes poorly drained soils [8,16,24]. At the northern edge of its range in extreme northern Alberta, plains bluegrass occurs only on well-drained south-facing slopes [22].

Plains bluegrass occurs from 3,500 to 9,500 feet (1,000-2900 m) elevation in Colorado [9].

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This species is known to occur in the following ecosystem types (as named by the U.S. Forest Service in their Forest and Range Ecosystem [FRES] Type classification):

More info for the term: shrub

FRES29 Sagebrush

FRES30 Desert shrub

FRES33 Southwestern shrubsteppe

FRES35 Pinyon-juniper

FRES36 Mountain grasslands

FRES37 Mountain meadows

FRES38 Plains grasslands

FRES39 Prairie

FRES41 Wet grasslands

FRES44 Alpine

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This species is known to occur in association with the following plant community types (as classified by Küchler 1964):

K038 Great Basin sagebrush

K040 Saltbrush-greasewood

K047 Fescue-oatgrass

K051 Wheatgrass-bluegrass

K052 Alpine meadows and barren

K056 Wheatgrass-needlegrass shrubsteppe

K058 Grama-tobosa shrubsteppe

K063 Foothills prairie

K064 Grama-needlegrass-wheatgrass

K065 Grama-buffalograss

K066 Wheatgrass-needlegrass

K067 Wheatgrass-bluestem-needlegrass

K068 Wheatgrass-grama prairie

K070 Sandsage-bluestem prairie

K073 Northern cordgrass prairie

K074 Nebraska Sand Hills prairie

K076 Blackland prairie

K088 Fayette prairie

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This species is known to occur in association with the following Rangeland Cover Types (as classified by the Society for Range Management, SRM):

More info for the terms: grassland, shrub

101 Bluebunch wheatgrass

103 Green fescue

213 Alpine grassland

216 Montane meadows

301 Bluebunch wheat grass-blue grama

302 Bluebunch wheatgrass-Sandberg bluegrass

303 Bluebunch wheatgrass-western wheatgrass

310 Needle-and-thread-blue grama

313 Tufted hairgrass-sedge

314 Big sagebrush-bluebunch wheatgrass

401 Basin big sagebrush

402 Mountain big sagebrush

403 Wyoming big sagebrush

410 Alpine rangeland

501 Saltbush-greasewood

502 Grama-galleta

505 Grama-tobosa shrub

601 Bluestem prairie

602 Bluestem-prairie sandreed

603 Prairie sandreed-needlegrass

604 Bluestem-grama prairie

605 Sandsage prairie

606 Wheatgrass-bluestem-needlegrass

607 Wheatgrass-needlegrass

608 Wheatgrass-grama-needlegrass

609 Wheatgrass-grama

610 Wheatgrass

611 Blue grama-buffalograss

612 Sagebrush-grass

615 Wheatgrass-saltgrass-grama

701 Alkali sacaton-tobosagrass

702 Black grama-alkali sacaton

703 Black grama-sideoats grama

704 Blue grama-western wheatgrass

705 Blue grama-galleta

706 Blue grama-sideoats grama

707 Blue grama-sideoats grama-black grama

708 Bluestem-dropseed

709 Bluestem-grama

710 Galleta-alkali sacaton

713 Grama-muhly-threeawn

714 Grama-bluestem

715 Grama-buffalograss

720 Sand bluestem-little bluestem (dunes)

721 Sand bluestem-little bluestem (plains)

722 Sand sagebrush-mixed prairie

Fire probably top-kills plains bluegrass.

Plains bluegrass is a minor species in most plant communities and is generally not important as forage [20]. It has some value in early spring because it greens up before most associated grass species [18,29].

More info for the term: heath

KS: Associates of plains bluegrass in mixed-grass prairie include little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium) , buffalo grass (Buchloe dactyloides), prairie junegrass (Koelaria macrantha), red threeawn (Aristida purpurea), and sixweeks fescue (Vulpia octoflora) [28].



Plant associates in salt grass (Distichlis spicata) communities of Kansas include saltmarsh bulrush (Scirpus maritimus), spear saltbush (Atriplex patula), silverscale saltbush (A. argentea), Pursh seepweed (Suaeda calceoliformis), foxtail barley (Cristestion jubatum), summer-cypress (Kochia scoparia), and prostrate heath aster (Aster ericoides var. prostratus) [27].



SD: Plant associates in a salt grass-foxtail barley community of South Dakota include Nuttall's alkali grass (Puccinellia nuttalliana) and western wheatgrass (Pascopyrum smithii) [26].



ND: A depauperate plant community dominated by plains bluegrass has been described by Lura, Barker, and Nyren [16] in Range plant communities of the Central Grasslands Research Station in south central North Dakota. The plains grassland-salt grass-foxtail barley community occurs on poorly drained, saline soil. Plant community members include Nuttall's alkali grass, alkali muhly (Muhlenbergia asperifolia), glasswort (Salicornia rubra), and sandspurrey (Spergularia marina) [16].



WY: Associates of plains bluegrass in shortgrass prairie of Wyoming include blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis), buffalo grass, western wheatgrass, pale agoseris (Agoseris glauca), lambsquarters (Chenopodium album), white thistle (Cirsium hookerianum), golden sedge (Carex aurea), thickspike wheatgrass (Elymus lanceolatus), plains reedgrass (Calamagrostis montanensis), tufted hairgrass (Deschampsia caespitosa), plains muhly (M. cuspidata), and slender milkvetch (Astragalus gracilis) [1,3].



In alpine plant communities, associates include black sedge (Carex atriformis), shortstalk sedge (C. podocarpa), tufted hairgrass, purple reedgrass (Calamagrostis purpurascens), Thurber's fescue (Festuca thurberi), sheep fescue (F. ovina), American bistort (Polygonum bistortoides), and western yarrow (Achillea millefolium) [3].



AB: Plains bluegrass is at the northern limit of its range in extreme northern Alberta. Associates of plains bluegrass in dry grasslands of Woods Buffalo National Park include prairie junegrass, Canadian needlegrass (Stipa curtiseta), Richardson needlegrass (S. richardsonii), manybranched pepperweed (Ledpidium ramosissium), prairiesmoke (Geum triflorum), candle anemone (Anemone cylindrica), bastard toadflax (Comandra umbellata), and northwest cinquefoil (Potentilla gracilis) [20,22].

More info for the term: graminoid

Graminoid

More info for the term: cover

Plains bluegrass is drought tolerant but may decline with prolonged drought. Weaver [28] reported that plains bluegrass cover decreased in Kansas during the severe drought of 1933 to 1935.

CO IA KS MN MT NE
NM ND OK SD TX WY
 
AB BC MB SK    

Plains bluegrass is palatable to domestic and wild ungulates, small mammals and birds, and upland game birds [5].

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Flowering periods of plains bluegrass by geographic area Geographic area Flowering dates Dakotas early June [29] Great Plains April to June [8] Intermountain region June to August [10] New Mexico May to July [24]

More info for the term: top-kill

Plains bluegrass probably sprouts from rhizomes after top-kill by fire.

More info for the term: fire regime

Geophyte

FIRE REGIMES:
Find fire regime information for the plant communities in which this species may occur by entering the species name in the FEIS home page under "Find FIRE REGIMES".

More info for the term: seed

Plains bluegrass establishes from seed [14] and by sprouting from rhizomes [21].

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This species can be found in the following regions of the western United States (according to the Bureau of Land Management classification of Physiographic Regions of the western United States):

 8 Northern Rocky Mountains

 9 Middle Rocky Mountains

10 Wyoming Basin

11 Southern Rocky Mountains

12 Colorado Plateau

13 Rocky Mountain Piedmont

14 Great Plains

15 Black Hills Uplift

16 Upper Missouri and Broken Lands

The scientific name of plains bluegrass is Poa arida Vasey (Poaceae). There are no infrataxa [8,10,11,24,15].

Plains bluegrass hybridizes with Sandberg bluegrass (P. secunda) [24]. It intergrades with Sandberg bluegrass, mutton grass (P. fendleriana), and arctic bluegrass (P. arctica) [11,24,15,17].

No legal status

Perennials, Terrestrial, not aquatic, Rhizomes present, Rhizome short and compact, stems close, Stems nodes swollen or brittle, Stems erect or ascending, Stems caespitose, tufted, or clustered, Stems terete, round in cross secti on, or polygonal, Stem internodes hollow, Stems with inflorescence less than 1 m tall, Stems, culms, or scapes exceeding basal leaves, Leaves mostly basal, below middle of stem, Leaves conspicuously 2-ranked, distichous, Leaves sheathing at base, Leaf sheath mostly open, or loose, Leaf sheath smooth, glabrous, Leaf sheath and blade differentiated, Leaf blades linear, Leaf blades 2-10 mm wide, Leaf blades mostly flat, Leaf blade margins folded, involute, or conduplicate, Leaf blades mostly glabrous, Leaf blades more or less hairy, Ligule present, Ligule an unfringed eciliate membrane, Inflorescence terminal, Inflorescence an open panicle, openly paniculate, branches spreading, Inflorescence solitary, with 1 spike, fascicle, glomerule, head, or cluster per stem or culm, Inflorescence with 2-10 branches, Inflorescence branches more than 10 to numerous, Flowers bisexual, Spikelets pedicellate, Spikelets laterally compressed, Spikelet less than 3 mm wide, Spikelets with 2 florets , Spikelets with 3-7 florets, Spikelets solitary at rachis nodes, Spikelets all alike and fertille, Spikelets bisexual, Spikelets disarticulating above the glumes, glumes persistent, Spikelets disarticulating beneath or between the florets, Rachilla or pedicel glabrous, Glumes present, empty bracts, Glumes 2 clearly present, Glumes equal or subequal, Glumes distinctly unequal, Glumes shorter than adjacent lemma, Glumes keeled or winged, Glumes 3 nerved, Lemmas thin, chartaceous, hyaline, cartilaginous, or membranous, Lemma similar in texture to glumes, Lemma 5-7 nerved, Lemma glabrous, Lemma body or surface hairy, Lemma apex truncate, rounded, or obtuse, Lemma apex acute or acuminate, Lemma awnless, Lemma margins thin, lying flat, Lemma straight, Callus or base of lemma evidently hairy, Callus hairs shorter than lemma, Lemma with long cobwebby white hairs, Palea present, well developed, Palea about equal to lemma, Palea 2 nerved or 2 keeled, Stamens 3, Styles 2-fid, deeply 2 -branched, Stigmas 2, Fruit - caryopsis, Caryopsis ellipsoid, longitudinally grooved, hilum long-linear.

Poa arida is a species of grass known by the common names plains bluegrass and prairie speargrass. It is native to North America, where it occurs throughout western and central Canada and the central United States. It is most common east of the Continental Divide; specimens west are often misidentifications.

This perennial grass grows up to 80 centimeters tall. The inflorescence is usually compact, its spikelets containing 3 to 7 flowers each. The grass sometimes has rhizomes. It grows in tufts or clumps or sometimes solitary. It reproduces by seed and by rhizome.

The grass grows in many types of habitat in the Rocky Mountains, the Colorado Plateau, the Great Plains, and other adjacent regions. It can be found in grassland, sagebrush, shrubsteppe, and prairie. It can be found in alpine climates and saltgrass plant communities. The northern limit of its distribution is in northern Alberta.