Poa (Alpinae) (sect. Alpinae) (ser. Bulbosae) Roshev.

Poa subg. Alpinae sect. Alpinae ser. Bulbosae Roshev., Fl. SSSR 2: 375. 1934. ≡ Poa sect. Bolbophorum Asch. & Graebn., Syn. Mitteleur. Fl. 2: 391. 1900. Type. Poa bulbosa L. ≡ Poa subsect. Bulbosae V. Jirásek, Věstn. Král. České Společn, Nauk. Tř. Mat. - Přír. 2: 3. 1935 a. Type. Poa bulbosa L. ≡ Poa sect. Bulbopoa F. Herm., Hercynia 1: 456. 1939. (nom. inval., without Latin). Type. Poa bulbosa L. ≡ Poa [unranked] Arenariae Hegetschw., Fl. Schweiz 87. 1838. (lectotype, designated by Soreng 1998, p. 195: Poa bulbosa L.). ≡ Poa sect. Arenariae (Hegetschw.) Stapf, Fl. Brit. India 7 (22): 338. 1896 [‘ 1897 ']. Type. Poa bulbosa L. Description. Perennials; hermaphroditic; tufts usually small dense, with bulbous basal shoots; tillers initiated as intravaginal bulbs; prophylls distinct, variously short or elongated; bulbs present, crowded, or sometimes elevated on a short axis (generally stooling when buried), bulbs set in the prior season, greening up in late fall and winter followed leaves with longer blades; bulb sheaths of prior year’s plants overlapping, crowded, smooth or scabrous, rarely strigulose, the innermost ones indurate, thickened; new bulbil offsets initially leafy. Culms 5–60 cm tall. Leaves mostly basal; Leaf sheaths with flag - leaf sheath margins fused for ca. 1 / 4 their length; ligules of basal leaves 0.4–10 mm long (on leaves at least 1 cm long); leaf-blades narrow, mostly less than 2 mm wide, usually thin, flaccid (without well-developed sclerenchyma bundles or continuous epidermal sclerenchyma). Panicles contracted and congested, sometimes open and more-or-less sparse; branches smooth or scabrous. Spikelets frequently bulbiferous forming bulblets / bulbils, sometimes with a normal or seminormal proximal floret (s); non-bulbiferous spikelets 2–5 (– 10) - flowered, laterally compressed, keeled, usually compact (with short rachilla internodes); glumes shorter than the lemmas; lower glumes usually 1 or 3 - veined; lemmas (1.8 –) 2–4.5 mm long, 5 - veined, the intermediate veins faint to obscure (appearing 3 - veined), veins glabrous or pubescent (softly sericate to sericeous or ciliate-pectinate), sometimes pubescent between veins (more often on distal florets); callus glabrous or with a dorsal tuft of hairs. Flowers bisexual or bulbiferous; anthers, if present, (0.6 –) 1–2 mm long. Clade code: Aa. Species and subspecies included. (b = bulbiferous forms are known and named as varieties). Poa akmanii, P. bactriana b (including bactriana b, drobovii b, glabriflora b, nevskii (Roshev. ex Ovcz.) Soreng, zaprjagajevii) P. bulbosa b (including subsp. bulbosa, subsp. perligulata b) Poa carniolica [a poorly understood entity sometimes incorrectly treated as P. perconcinna], P. cephalonica (a reported bulbiferous form remains unnamed, but may belong to another species), P. jordanovii, P. perconcinna, P. pitardiana, P. sinaica b (including: subsp. pamphyliensis b Cabi, L. J. Gillespie & Soreng, subsp. reuteriana (Boiss. & Buhse) Soreng, subsp. sinaica b), P. scitula, P. timoleontis b, P. vaginata, P. vvedenskyi. Distribution and ecology. Native to Western Eurasia, Central Asia and adjacent East Asia, Northern Africa. Mainly in Mediterranean and Irano-Turanian regions. Lowlands to high mountains. Temperate maquis, forest openings, steppes, and alpine. Introduced elsewhere. Comments. Bulbiferous forms are frequently invasive outside their native ranges. Fig. 3 includes illustrations of bulbous basal shoots, prophylls, and ligules of four taxa.