Publication: Sp. Pl. 1: 67-68. 1753.

Origin: Introduced from Europe

Herbarium search: CPNWH

Notes: FNA24: "More than 60 cultivars of Poa pratensis have been released in the Flora region. Plants grown from commercially distributed seed have generally been placed in subsp. pratensis by North American authors, but they appear to include genetic contributions from at least three major subspecies, e.g., subspp. angustifolia, pratensis, and irrigata. These and intermediate forms, especially those favoring subspp. irrigata and pratensis, are best simply referred to as Poa pratensis sensu lato or labeled as cultivated material.The chromosome counts listed here are numbers reported for the species that are probably not subspp. alpigena, angustifolia, or colpodea; they may represent subspp. irrigata or pratensis.

Poa pratensis subsp. pratensis grows throughout most of the range of the species, but is absent from the high arctic, and only sporadic in the low arctic. It usually has a few narrow, flat or involute, intravaginal shoot leaves, in addition to some broader, extravaginal shoot leaves, and is intermediate between subspp. angustifolia and irrigata. For a comparison, see the descriptions of those subspecies."

Last updated 12/16/2023 by David Giblin.