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SYNONYMS:
Poa glaucifolia Scribn. & Williams [8,15]
NRCS PLANT CODE:
POAR3
COMMON NAMES:
plains bluegrass
prairie speargrass
TAXONOMY:
The scientific name of plains bluegrass is Poa arida Vasey (Poaceae). There are no infrataxa [8,10,11,24,15].
Plains bluegrass hybridizes with Sandberg bluegrass (P. secunda) [24]. It intergrades with Sandberg bluegrass, mutton grass (P. fendleriana), and arctic bluegrass (P. arctica) [11,24,15,17].
LIFE FORM:
Graminoid
FEDERAL LEGAL STATUS:
No legal status
OTHER STATUS:
None
GENERAL DISTRIBUTION:
Plains bluegrass occurs from British Columbia east to Manitoba and south to Minnesota, Texas, and New Mexico [8,10,12,24]. It is most common east of the Continental Divide [10,24].
Plants previously identified as plains bluegrass in Utah are probably arctic bluegrass [17,24], and plants previously identified as plains bluegrass in Arizona are probably mutton grass [24].
ECOSYSTEMS:
FRES29 Sagebrush
FRES30 Desert shrub
FRES33 Southwestern shrubsteppe
FRES35 Pinyon-juniper
FRES36 Mountain grasslands
FRES37 Mountain meadows
FRES38 Plains grasslands
FRES39 Prairie
FRES41 Wet grasslands
FRES44 Alpine
| CO | IA | KS | MN | MT | NE |
| NM | ND | OK | SD | TX | WY |
| AB | BC | MB | SK | ||
BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS:
8 Northern Rocky Mountains
9 Middle Rocky Mountains
10 Wyoming Basin
11 Southern Rocky Mountains
12 Colorado Plateau
13 Rocky Mountain Piedmont
14 Great Plains
15 Black Hills Uplift
16 Upper Missouri and Broken Lands
KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS:
K038 Great Basin sagebrush
K040 Saltbrush-greasewood
K047 Fescue-oatgrass
K051 Wheatgrass-bluegrass
K052 Alpine meadows and barren
K056 Wheatgrass-needlegrass shrubsteppe
K058 Grama-tobosa shrubsteppe
K063 Foothills prairie
K064 Grama-needlegrass-wheatgrass
K065 Grama-buffalograss
K066 Wheatgrass-needlegrass
K067 Wheatgrass-bluestem-needlegrass
K068 Wheatgrass-grama prairie
K070 Sandsage-bluestem prairie
K073 Northern cordgrass prairie
K074 Nebraska Sand Hills prairie
K076 Blackland prairie
K088 Fayette prairie
SAF COVER TYPES:
No Entry
SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES:
101 Bluebunch wheatgrass
103 Green fescue
213 Alpine grassland
216 Montane meadows
301 Bluebunch wheat grass-blue grama
302 Bluebunch wheatgrass-Sandberg bluegrass
303 Bluebunch wheatgrass-western wheatgrass
310 Needle-and-thread-blue grama
313 Tufted hairgrass-sedge
314 Big sagebrush-bluebunch wheatgrass
401 Basin big sagebrush
402 Mountain big sagebrush
403 Wyoming big sagebrush
410 Alpine rangeland
501 Saltbush-greasewood
502 Grama-galleta
505 Grama-tobosa shrub
601 Bluestem prairie
602 Bluestem-prairie sandreed
603 Prairie sandreed-needlegrass
604 Bluestem-grama prairie
605 Sandsage prairie
606 Wheatgrass-bluestem-needlegrass
607 Wheatgrass-needlegrass
608 Wheatgrass-grama-needlegrass
609 Wheatgrass-grama
610 Wheatgrass
611 Blue grama-buffalograss
612 Sagebrush-grass
615 Wheatgrass-saltgrass-grama
701 Alkali sacaton-tobosagrass
702 Black grama-alkali sacaton
703 Black grama-sideoats grama
704 Blue grama-western wheatgrass
705 Blue grama-galleta
706 Blue grama-sideoats grama
707 Blue grama-sideoats grama-black grama
708 Bluestem-dropseed
709 Bluestem-grama
710 Galleta-alkali sacaton
713 Grama-muhly-threeawn
714 Grama-bluestem
715 Grama-buffalograss
720 Sand bluestem-little bluestem (dunes)
721 Sand bluestem-little bluestem (plains)
722 Sand sagebrush-mixed prairie
HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES:
KS: Associates of plains bluegrass in mixed-grass prairie include little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium) , buffalo grass (Buchloe dactyloides), prairie junegrass (Koelaria macrantha), red threeawn (Aristida purpurea), and sixweeks fescue (Vulpia octoflora) [28].
Plant associates in salt grass (Distichlis spicata) communities of Kansas include saltmarsh bulrush (Scirpus maritimus), spear saltbush (Atriplex patula), silverscale saltbush (A. argentea), Pursh seepweed (Suaeda calceoliformis), foxtail barley (Cristestion jubatum), summer-cypress (Kochia scoparia), and prostrate heath aster (Aster ericoides var. prostratus) [27].
SD: Plant associates in a salt grass-foxtail barley community of South Dakota include Nuttall's alkali grass (Puccinellia nuttalliana) and western wheatgrass (Pascopyrum smithii) [26].
ND: A depauperate plant community dominated by plains bluegrass has been described by Lura, Barker, and Nyren [16] in Range plant communities of the Central Grasslands Research Station in south central North Dakota. The plains grassland-salt grass-foxtail barley community occurs on poorly drained, saline soil. Plant community members include Nuttall's alkali grass, alkali muhly (Muhlenbergia asperifolia), glasswort (Salicornia rubra), and sandspurrey (Spergularia marina) [16].
WY: Associates of plains bluegrass in shortgrass prairie of Wyoming include blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis), buffalo grass, western wheatgrass, pale agoseris (Agoseris glauca), lambsquarters (Chenopodium album), white thistle (Cirsium hookerianum), golden sedge (Carex aurea), thickspike wheatgrass (Elymus lanceolatus), plains reedgrass (Calamagrostis montanensis), tufted hairgrass (Deschampsia caespitosa), plains muhly (M. cuspidata), and slender milkvetch (Astragalus gracilis) [1,3].
In alpine plant communities, associates include black sedge (Carex atriformis), shortstalk sedge (C. podocarpa), tufted hairgrass, purple reedgrass (Calamagrostis purpurascens), Thurber's fescue (Festuca thurberi), sheep fescue (F. ovina), American bistort (Polygonum bistortoides), and western yarrow (Achillea millefolium) [3].
AB: Plains bluegrass is at the northern limit of its range in extreme northern Alberta. Associates of plains bluegrass in dry grasslands of Woods Buffalo National Park include prairie junegrass, Canadian needlegrass (Stipa curtiseta), Richardson needlegrass (S. richardsonii), manybranched pepperweed (Ledpidium ramosissium), prairiesmoke (Geum triflorum), candle anemone (Anemone cylindrica), bastard toadflax (Comandra umbellata), and northwest cinquefoil (Potentilla gracilis) [20,22].
IMPORTANCE TO LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE:
Plains bluegrass is a minor species in most plant communities and is generally not important as forage [20]. It has some value in early spring because it greens up before most associated grass species [18,29].
PALATABILITY:
Plains bluegrass is palatable to domestic and wild ungulates, small mammals and birds, and upland game birds [5].
NUTRITIONAL VALUE:
No entry
COVER VALUE:
Cover value of plains bluegrass for small mammals, small birds, and upland game birds has been rated as fair [5].
VALUE FOR REHABILITATION OF DISTURBED SITES:
No entry
OTHER USES AND VALUES:
No entry
OTHER MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS:
Plains bluegrass is drought tolerant but may decline with prolonged drought. Weaver [28] reported that plains bluegrass cover decreased in Kansas during the severe drought of 1933 to 1935.
GENERAL BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS:
Plains bluegrass is a native, cool-season perennial from 12 to 32 inches (30-80 cm) tall [8,18,29]. The panicle is compact to infrequently open. Spikelets have 3 to 7 perfect flowers. Plains bluegrass is shortly rhizomatous to nearly arhizomatous. Plants in the Intermountain region consistently have rhizomes, while some plants in the Great Plains may be nearly arhizomatous [8,10]. In Wyoming, rhizomes of plains bluegrass have been described as "short but abundant" [18].
RAUNKIAER LIFE FORM:
Geophyte
REGENERATION PROCESSES:
Plains bluegrass establishes from seed [14] and by sprouting from rhizomes [21].
SITE CHARACTERISTICS:
Plains bluegrass occurs on disturbed sites, pastures, meadows, prairies, piedmont valleys, foothills, and alpine sites [8,10,21,24].
Soils with plains bluegrass are often alkaline and/or sandy [8,10,15,21,24]. In South Dakota, plains bluegrass occurs on saline, sulfate-dominated soils near Stink and Bitter lakes in Codington and Day counties, respectively. Soil pH averages 7.9 on sites with plains bluegrass [26].
Unlike most bluegrasses (Poa spp.), plains bluegrass tolerates dry soils [24]. Soil moisture is highly variable, however; plains bluegrass occurs on arid, well-drained soils and on wet, sometimes poorly drained soils [8,16,24]. At the northern edge of its range in extreme northern Alberta, plains bluegrass occurs only on well-drained south-facing slopes [22].
Plains bluegrass occurs from 3,500 to 9,500 feet (1,000-2900 m) elevation in Colorado [9].
SUCCESSIONAL STATUS:
No entry
| Flowering periods of plains bluegrass by geographic area | |
| Geographic area | Flowering dates |
| Dakotas | early June [29] |
| Great Plains | April to June [8] |
| Intermountain region | June to August [10] |
| New Mexico | May to July [24] |
FIRE ECOLOGY OR ADAPTATIONS:
Studies of the fire ecology and successional status of plains bluegrass are lacking. Most plains bluegrass probably sprout from rhizomes after top-kill by fire. Plants that are nearly arhizomatous probably tiller after top-kill. Ability of plains bluegrass to establish from seed after fire or other disturbance cannot be assessed until further data are available.
For information on fire regimes of ecosystems in which plains bluegrass occurs, see FEIS reviews on Bouteloua gracilis, Buchloe dactyloides, Distichlis spicata, and Hesperostipa comata.
POSTFIRE REGENERATION STRATEGY:
Geophyte
FIRE REGIMES:
Find fire regime information for the plant communities in which this
species may occur by entering the species name in the FEIS home page under "Find Fire Regimes".
IMMEDIATE FIRE EFFECT ON PLANT:
Fire probably top-kills plains bluegrass.
DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF FIRE EFFECT:
No entry
PLANT RESPONSE TO FIRE:
Plains bluegrass probably sprouts from rhizomes after top-kill by fire.
DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF PLANT RESPONSE:
No entry
FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS:
No entry
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