Northeast Wetland Flora
Field Office Guide to Plant Species
Poa autumnalis Muhl. ex Elliott
- Family: Grass (Gramineae)
- Flowering: March-July
- Field Marks: This bluegrass differs by its 5-nerved lemmas that are not webbed at the base, its spikelets on stalks at least as long as the spikelets, and the absence of rhizomes.
- Habitat: Rich woods.
- Habit: Tufted perennial herb without rhizomes.
- Stems: Upright, mostly unbranched, smooth, up to 2 feet tall.
- Leaves: Elongated, flat, up to 1/8 inch wide; sheaths smooth.
- Flowers: Borne in spikelets, the spikelets arranged in panicles, the panicles up to 8 inches long with thread-like branches; spikelets 3- to 6-flowered, up to 1/3 inch long.
- Glumes: First glume lanceolate, second glume ovate, unequal in length, pointed at the tip, smooth, up to 1/6 inch long.
- Lemmas: Oblong, up to 1/4 inch long, rounded at the tip, 5-nerved, hairy but without a cobwebby tuft of hairs at the base.
- Sepals: 0.
- Petals: 0.
- Stamens: 3.
- Pistils: Ovary superior, smooth.
- Fruits: Grains ellipsoid, smooth.
- Notes: This family is referred to as Poaceae by Gleason and Cronquist.
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