Poa secunda var. ampla

Sherman big bluegrass

Family: Poaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Sherman big bluegrass is a California native perennial found in upper sagebrush slopes and yellow pine forests of the Sierra Nevada and Cascade Range at elevations of 800 to 2,900 meters. Flowering from May to August, this plant produces delicate pale green to white flower spikelets 7 to 10 millimeters long in narrow, elongated clusters. Growing 60 to 180 centimeters tall with upright, slender stems, it forms dense clumps with firm, flat to folded leaf blades. Its leaves feature smooth sheaths and small ligules 1 to 2 millimeters long, with lateral leaf blades extending 15 to 30 centimeters. The plant's lemmas are glabrous with slightly scabrous upper surfaces, giving the grass a subtle textural complexity.

Habitat: Mostly upper sagebrush slopes and yellow pine forests, not alkaline or saline

Bloom period: May-Aug

Elevation: 800-2900 m

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