高原早熟禾 gao yuan zao shu he

Poa alpigena Lindman, Sv. Fanerogamfl. 91. 1918; P. pratensis var. alpigena Blytt, nom. illeg. superfl.; P. pratensis var. contracta Keng; P. pratensis var. iantha Laestadius.

Plants green or more often purplish, with slender rhizomes; shoots extravaginal. Culms 10–70 cm tall, 0.7–1 mm in diam., mostly solitary, nodes 1 or 2. Leaf sheaths smooth, glabrous; blades flat or more often folded, 2–5 cm × 0.6–2(–3) mm, surfaces and margins slightly scabrid or smooth, adaxially frequently sparsely hairy, of tillers often curved upward, to 12 cm; ligules 0.8–2.5 mm, abaxially smooth or sparsely scabrid. Panicle loosely contracted or eventually open, erect, 5–10(–20) × 1–3.5(–5) cm; branches spreading at anthesis, slightly flexuous, 2–4 per node, slender, smooth or sparsely scabrid, longest 1.5–4 cm, with 9–15 spikelets in distal 1/2. Spikelets purple-violet, 3–5 mm, florets 2 or 3; glumes subequal, lower glume 2–3.5 mm, upper glume 2.5–4 mm; lemmas ovate, 3.3–4.3 mm, keel villous for 2/3 of length, marginal veins for 1/2, intermediate veins glabrous or sparsely pilulose to short villous; palea smooth or proximally with sparse hooks between keels, keels scabrid, sometimes medially pilulose. Anthers (1.2–)1.3–1.8 mm. Fl. and fr. Jul–Aug. 2n = 28, 35, 42, 56, 63, 70, 74–78, 84.

Mountain meadows, alpine cold grasslands, riverside sandy places; 700–1000 m. Hebei, Heilongjiang, Nei Mongol [Russia; Europe, North and South America].

Only a few specimens from NE China seem to be of this race. Records from western provinces cited in FRPS (9(2): 101–102. 2002, as P. alpigena) seem to be based on material better placed in subsp. prui-nosa or subsp. staintonii.