Poa cusickii subsp. pallida
Family: Poaceae · Type: perennial · Native
Cusick's pale bluegrass is a native perennial found in central Sierra Nevada and White and Inyo Mountains in high montane to lower alpine dry meadows and ridges at elevations of 2,000 to 3,500 meters. Flowering from July to August, this grass produces delicate inflorescences with dense, stout branches 3 to 5 centimeters long that are obviously scabrous. Growing with dense basal tufts and stems reaching moderate heights, it develops compact clusters with appressed branches. Its leaves form dense basal clusters with sheaths open along half to four-fifths of their length, featuring barely exposed nodes. The plant reproduces asexually, with lemmas 5 to 6.5 millimeters long and typically glabrous or smoothly textured.
Habitat: Uncommon. High montane to lower alpine dry meadows, ridges
Bloom period: Jul-Aug
Elevation: 2000-3500 m
Bioregions: c&s SNH, W&I
California counties: Inyo, Mono, Lassen
Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.