Poa fendleriana

Muttongrass

Field view of Muttongrass.

Typical growth form is a fanned-out bunchgrass.

The condensed panicles have many spikelets.

Lower inflorescence branches are longer. There are no awns.

A seven and a six-floret spikelet. The glumes are shorter than the adjacent lemmas.

Massive roots have short rhizomes.

How to Identify Muttongrass

  Poa fendleriana is a perennial early-season bunchgrass. Look for clustered 3-5 inch seedheads whose branches hold many tiny spikelets. I find that most muttongrass bunches have stems (culms) that fan out from the basal leaves as in the second photo above. The culm itself is bare of leaves. Unlike most bluegrasses, Muttongrass has no patch of spidery hairs at the base of each lemma. Take apart a couple of spikelets (not easy--they are so tiny) and check for the absence of these long tangled hairs. You must check also for Muttongrass's short rhizomes, as several similar species have none.

Similar Species

  First eliminate all the fescues (Festuca species), which are quite similar, by checking for awns. All Arizona fescues have awns, sometimes very short ones, but no bluegrasses (Poa species) have these. In Coconino County only, Wheeler's Bluegrass is like Muttongrass but its seedheads are open and airy rather than clustered or spike-like. All the bluegrasses are difficult to identify. You may be happy to simply identify them as bluegrasses, a feat in itself. There are 15 of them in Arizona, nine of which have spidery hairs at lemma bases.