Poa stebbinsii

Stebbins's blue grass

Family: Poaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Stebbins's blue grass is a California native perennial found in the central Sierra Nevada Mountains in subalpine to lower alpine mesic meadows at elevations of 2,700 to 3,700 meters. Flowering from June to August, this grass produces delicate, slender inflorescences 3 to 7 centimeters long that are narrowly lanceolate and dense to sparsely arranged. Growing in tufted clusters 10 to 35 centimeters tall, it forms compact, slightly dioecious clumps with slender stems. Its leaf blades are firm and folded, with upper surfaces finely hairy and leaf sheaths open for three-fifths to four-fifths of their length. The plant's lemmas are thin, smooth to barely scabrous, measuring 3.7 to 5.5 millimeters long, with clear ligules 2.5 to 6 millimeters in length.

Habitat: Subalpine to lower alpine mesic meadows

Bloom period: Jun-Aug

Elevation: 2700-3700 m

Bioregions: c&amps SNH.

California counties: Mono, Tulare, Fresno, El Dorado, Mariposa, Tuolumne, Inyo, Madera, Alpine

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