Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses

TEXAS BLUEGRASS

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Poa arachnifera Torr.

Comanche County, Kansas

Perennial

Height: 10-28 inches

Family: Poaceae - Grass Family

Flowering Period: April, May

Culms:

Erect, slightly flattened, hollow, glabrous.

Blades:

Few, firm, folded to flat, 1.2 to 12 inches long, to 1/6 inch wide; tips boat-shaped.

Sheaths:

Long, loose, more or less flattened, slightly keeled, closed at base.

Ligules:

Pointed, to 1/6 inch long.

Inflorescences:

Panicle, erect, dense, contracted, 2 to 6 inches long, .4 to 1.6 inch wide, lowest node with 2-5 branches; branches ascending, crowded, light greenish, spikelet-bearing to base, occasionally interrupted below.

Spikelets:

Variable, 2 forms; glumes greenish, pointed, first glume 1-3-nerved, second glume usually 3-nerved; staminate spikelets 2-7-flowered, mostly 1/6 to 1/4 inch long; lemmas nearly glabrous except for sparse tuft of cobwebby hairs at base; pistillate spikelets 1-5-flowered, 1/5 to 2/5 inch long; lemmas with dense tuft of long cobwebby hairs at base.

Habitat:

Pastures, prairies, and roadsides; calcareous or sandy clay soils.

Distribution:

South 1/4 of Kansas.

Comments:

Texas bluegrass is dioecious (male and female flowers occur on separate plants). The name arachnifera "spider-bearing" is in reference to the long white hairs of the spikelets which resemble a spider web. Texas bluegrass will increase under light disturbance but disappear with heavy grazing.

Texas bluegrass inflorescence