Poa tenerrima
Delicate blue grass
Anthony Valois and the National Park Service (via Wikimedia Commons) · CC0
Family: Poaceae · Type: Grass · Native
Poa tenerrima (Delicate blue grass) is a native California grass in the Poaceae family, recognized by delicate habit and serpentine habitat.
Delicate blue grass is a California native perennial found in the Sierra Nevada Foothills in thin, drying serpentine soils within pine-oak forests at elevations below 700 meters. Flowering from March to June, this delicate grass produces soft pale green to bluish-green flowers in open, widely spreading inflorescences. Growing with slender, tufted stems 15 to 50 centimeters tall, it forms dense clusters of fine, soft stems. Its leaves are extremely narrow, measuring just 0.5 to 1.5 millimeters wide, with open sheaths and very short ligules less than 2.5 millimeters long. The grass produces small spikelets with lemmas that are weakly keeled and sparsely hairy near the base.
Identification and appearance
Key characters: 17 sympatric species; distinguished by delicate habit and serpentine habitat
Habitat and range
Habitat: Thin, drying soils, on serpentine in pine-oak forests
Elevation: < 700 m
Bloom period
Poa tenerrima blooms Mar-Jun.
How to tell it apart
vs Festuca: Poa has boat-shaped, keeled leaf tips; Festuca leaves are flat or rolled but never keeled like a ship's prow.; vs Melica: Poa has fine, narrow leaves with boat-shaped tips; Melica has wider, flat leaves without the distinctive keel.; vs Nassella: Poa leaves have boat-shaped tips you can feel; Nassella leaves roll inward and lack the keel.; vs Koeleria: Poa has cobwebby hairs at seed base and keeled leaf tips; Koeleria lacks both features.; vs Holcus: Poa has boat-shaped leaf tips; Holcus leaves are flat and soft-hairy without any keel.
Frequently asked questions
Is Poa tenerrima native to California?
Yes. Poa tenerrima is native to California (recorded as native).
When does Poa tenerrima bloom?
Poa tenerrima blooms Mar-Jun.
What plant family does Poa tenerrima belong to?
Poa tenerrima is in the Poaceae family, genus Poa.
What habitat does Poa tenerrima grow in?
Poa tenerrima grows in Thin, drying soils, on serpentine in pine-oak forests.
Related species
Other California species in the same genus, family, or bioregion.
Sources: Jepson eFlora · CalPhotos
Last updated 2026-10-07
Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Cal-IPC, and more.