Poa glauca subsp. rupicola
Timberline blue grass, Timberline Blue Grass
Family: Poaceae · Type: perennial · Native
Timberline blue grass is a California native perennial found in the Sierra Nevada and White and Inyo Mountains on dry alpine slopes and ridges at elevations of 3,300 to 4,100 meters. Flowering from July to August, this plant produces pale blue to green flowers in compact, narrow inflorescences 1 to 5 centimeters long. Growing as a densely tufted grass 5 to 15 centimeters tall with all current shoots flowering, it forms tight, cushion-like clusters. Its leaf blades are narrow, 1 to 2 millimeters wide, soft, and either flat or slightly folded, with open sheaths extending more than four-fifths of their length. The plant's flower spikelets have glumes 2.5 to 3.5 millimeters long, with lemmas bearing short hairs at the base.
Habitat: Dry alpine slopes, ridges
Bloom period: Jul-Aug
Elevation: 3300-4100 m
Bioregions: SNH, W&I
California counties: Inyo, Tulare, Mono, Fresno, Tuolumne, Sierra, Alpine, Mariposa, Madera, Nevada, Siskiyou
Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.