Poa secunda var. juncifolia

Alkali bluegrass

Family: Poaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Alkali bluegrass is a native perennial found in the western United States in moist to dry saline or alkaline flats, meadows, pine forests, and steppe environments at elevations of 800 to 2,600 meters. Flowering from June to July, this grass produces small, delicate flower clusters in a narrow, upright arrangement. Growing up to one meter tall with firm, mostly inrolled leaf blades less than 15 centimeters long, it forms dense tufted clumps characteristic of bluegrass species. Its leaves have smooth sheaths and short ligules between 1 to 2 millimeters long, with blades that are relatively stiff and typically folded or rolled. The plant's spikelets are 7 to 10 millimeters long, containing 3 to 6 individual florets with lemmas that are slightly scabrous or rough to the touch.

Habitat: Moist to dry saline or alkaline flats and meadows, pine forests and steppe

Bloom period: Jun-Jul

Elevation: 800-2600 m

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