Cusick's bluegrass facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Cusick's bluegrass
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Monocots
Clade:	Commelinids
Order:	Poales
Family:	Poaceae
Subfamily:	Pooideae
Genus:	Poa
Species:	P. cusickii
Binomial name
Poa cusickii Vasey
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Poa cusickii is a type of grass often called Cusick's bluegrass. It grows naturally in western North America, from Yukon in Canada down to Colorado and eastern California in the United States. You can find it in many different places, like high mountain meadows, grassy slopes, sagebrush areas, and forests.

What it Looks Like

This grass is a perennial bunchgrass. This means it lives for more than two years and grows in thick clumps, like a small bush of grass. These clumps can be quite large, growing up to about 60 centimeters (about 2 feet) tall.

Its leaves are narrow and firm. Sometimes, their edges roll inward. The longest leaves are usually found around the middle of the stem. The plant's flowers grow in a dense, narrow cluster called an inflorescence. This cluster has many overlapping branches, holding up to 100 tiny flower parts called spikelets.

How it Reproduces

Poa cusickii is a dioecious plant. This means that individual plants are either male or female. Male plants produce male flowers, and female plants produce female flowers.

This grass can also make new plants in other ways without needing seeds from two parents. It can reproduce vegetatively, which means new plants grow from parts of the parent plant. It does this using special shoots called tillers. It can also reproduce through apomixis. This is when seeds form without being fertilized. Some groups of these plants are made up only of female individuals because of this. One special type, called ssp. purpurascens, is always all female.

See also

In Spanish: Poa cusickii para niños