Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center


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Western Wetland Flora

Field Office Guide to Plant Species

Fowl Bluegrass
Poa palustris L.

JPG -- Species Photo JPG -- Distribution Map

Family: Grass (Gramineae)
Flowering: May-August
Field Marks: The distinctive field marks of this bluegrass are the absence of rhizomes, the hairy lemmas, and the panicles more than 4 inches long. The stems are often purplish at the base.
Habitat: Wet meadows, roadside ditches, other moist areas.
Habit: Perennial herb with fibrous roots.
Stems: Spreading, often rooting at the nodes, up to 3 feet tall, smooth, often purplish at the base.
Leaves: Alternate, elongated, narrow, flat or folded, up to 8 inches long, boat-shaped at the tip, rough to the touch on the upper surface.
Flowers: Borne in spikelets, with the spikelets arranged in an open panicle up to 1 foot long; spikelets 2- to 4-flowered, up to 1/4 inch long; lemmas hairy, bronze at the tip.
Sepals: 0.
Petals: 0.
Stamens: 3.
Pistils: Ovary superior, smooth.
Grains: Obovoid, smooth.
Notes: This species has been introduced from Europe and Asia, but is now widely found in the United States.

Previous Species -- Nevada Bluegrass (Poa nevadensis)
Return to Species List -- Group 2
Next Species -- Annual Rabbit-foot Grass (Polypogon monspeliensis)

U.S. Department of the Interior | U.S. Geological Survey
URL: http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/plants/florawe/species/2/poapalu.htm
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Page Last Modified: Saturday, 02-Feb-2013 06:24:10 EST
Menlo Park, CA [caww55]