Poa cusickii subsp. purpurascens

Family: Poaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Cusick's bluegrass is a native perennial grass found in the Klamath Ranges and northern Sierra Nevada Mountains in moist subalpine forests, meadows, and rocky ledges at elevations of 2,100 to 3,500 meters. Flowering from July to September, this grass produces delicate purplish-green inflorescences 4 to 8 centimeters long with sparse, ascending branches. Growing with slender stems 17 to 30 centimeters tall, it forms sparse basal tufts with open leaf sheaths. Its leaves have 1 to 2 exposed nodes, with basal clusters that are relatively sparse and delicate. This unusual grass is notable for producing fruit through asexual means, with lemmas 4.5 to 7 millimeters long and sparsely hairy along the margins.

Habitat: Moist subalpine forest, meadows, ledges

Bloom period: Jul-Sep

Elevation: 2100-3500 m

Bioregions: KR, n SNH

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.