|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Species Image Gallery (opens in a new window) |
|||||||||
| THE GRASS FAMILY | |||||||||
| The grass family is economically
and ecologically important. Many of the world’s crops are products
of the grasses. In addition, grasses are represented in almost all terrestrial
ecosystems and are an important part of the natural food chain. The grasses have a set of structures unique to the family. These plants can be annual or perennial and are usually herbaceous. The roots are fibrous, but rhizomes or runners may be found in some species. The stems are solitary or tufted, and may be branched. The stems are round with hollow internodes and solid nodes. The leaves are basal or on the stem. The stem leaves are 2-ranked, meaning they are in two vertical rows and are sheathing at the base. A ligule is present where the leaf sheath and the blade meet. The florets are in spikelets which are then arranged into clusters called spikes, racemes, or panicles. The spikelets usually have two glumes at the base and may be one to several-flowered. Sometimes there are sterile florets, which may consist only of the palea and lemma, present above or below the fertile florets. The florets are usually perfect, meaning that they have both male and female parts. The lemma and palea are the two bracts that subtend each floret. The lemma may be awnless or awned from the tip or the back. Each fertile floret has between one and three stamens and one superior ovary with a feathery stigma. The fruit type is a caryopsis or grain and is unique to the grass family. |
|||||||||
| ALPINE BLUEGRASS | |||||||||
| LATIN NAME: Poa alpina | |||||||||
| WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE? | |||||||||
| Alpine bluegrass is a tufted perennial grass that grows to 40 cm tall from fibrous roots. The leaves are widely spreading and are up to 5 cm long and 6 mm wide. The flowers are in an open to loosely contracted, branched cluster. The florets may be replaced by bulbous, sterile florets in the spikelets. The spikelets contain up to five florets and are purplish or bronze in colour. The glumes are rough hairy on the ridge and have three nerves. Both the lemma and the palea are boat-shaped. | |||||||||
| WHERE DOES IT GROW? | |||||||||
| Alpine bluegrass grows in rock outcrops, bouldery tundra, and on gravel shores. | |||||||||
| WHERE IS IT FOUND IN SASKATCHEWAN? | |||||||||
| This plant is found in northern Saskatchewan in the Tazin Lake Upland and Selwyn Lake Upland ecoregions. | |||||||||
| WHY IS IT RARE? | |||||||||
| Alpine bluegrass is endangered because it is rare in Saskatchewan and is restricted to one general region of the province. No threats are known or anticipated. | |||||||||
| HOW TO IDENTIFY ALPINE BLUEGRASS | |||||||||
| * Are the spikelets purplish or bronze in colour? * Are the lemma and the palea boat-shaped? * Are the florets lacking awns? * Did you find it in northern Saskatchewan? | |||||||||
| If you answered yes to all of these questions, you may have found alpine bluegrass! | |||||||||
