Poa sikkimensis (Stapf) Bor

Poa sikkimensis lacks a webbed callus and has ligules 2–6 mm. It is most difficult to distinguish from P. annua, but has sparsely scabrid palea keels and branches and no pubescence on the intermediate veins of the lemmas.

Tufted annual or short-lived perennial; culms 10-45cm high, erect or geniculately ascending, often clothed at the base with the scarious remains of old leaf-sheaths. Leaf-blades flat or folded, 3-10cm long, 2-5mm wide, flaccid, abruptly tapered to a blunt tip, contracted at the base, smooth or scabrid on the margins and both surfaces; ligule erose, 2.5-6mm long. Panicle oblong or pyra¬midal, 6-15cm long; branches usually in pairs, ascending, spreading or deflexed, capillary, scaberulous. Spikelets 3-5-flowered, oblong, 4-6mm long, often suffused with purple; glumes unequal, the lower lanceolate to elliptic, 1.5-2.5mm long, (1-)3-nerved, the upper obovate-elliptic, 2.5-3mm long, 3-nerved, denticulate on the margins; lemma elliptic in side-view, 2.7- 3mm long, blunt, ciliate on the keel, glabrous or ciliate on the marginal nerves, without any wool at the base; palea shorter than the lemma, the keels ciliate below, scabrid above; anthers 05-0.8mm long.

Annuals or short-lived perennials, tufted to weakly stoloniferous. Culms erect or arching, or geniculate ascending, 4–42 cm tall, 0.5–2 mm in diam., smooth, nodes 1–3(–4), none or 1 exserted, uppermost to 1/3 way up culm. Leaf sheaths loose, smooth, glabrous, 2–8 cm, 1–3 × as long as blade, uppermost closed for 1/3–1/2 of length; blade flat, thin, 3–10 cm × (1.5–) 2–5 mm, surfaces smooth or sparsely scabrid, margins scabrid, apex acutely prow-tipped, of tillers 1–10 cm; ligule 1.5–4(–6) mm, abaxially smooth or sparsely scabrid, apex obtuse to acute, collars glabrous. Panicle loosely contracted to open, oblong to pyramidal, 3–15(–19.5) × 1.5–5 cm, longest internodes 0.5–3 cm; branches obliquely ascending, spreading, or reflexed, flexuous, 2 per node, proximally smooth, distally scabrid, longest to 1–7 cm with 4–30 spikelets in distal 2/3. Spikelets ovate, usually purple tinged, 3.8–5(–6) mm, florets 3–5; vivipary absent; rachilla internodes 0.4–0.9 mm, smooth, glabrous; glumes usually purple, subequal to unequal, broad, keels smooth or sparsely scabrid, lower glume 1.5–2.7 mm, 1-veined, upper glume 2–3.1 mm, 3-veined; lemmas broadly elliptic, 2.5–3.3 mm, apex obtuse to acute, keel pilulose to shortly villous, rarely glabrous, for 1/2 length, marginal veins to 1/3, intermediate veins prominent, areas between veins smooth, glabrous; callus glabrous; palea glabrous between keels, keels sparsely scabrid, some smooth, medially sparsely pilulose. Anthers 0.5–0.9 mm. Fl. and fr. Jul–Sep. 2n = 28, 42.

Himalaya (Nepal to Bhutan), Assam.

Distribution: Kashmir; Northwest India and Sikkim.

SW Gansu, S Qinghai, W Sichuan, E Xizang (Yadong, Zayü), NW Yunnan [Bhutan, India (Assam, Sikkim), Nepal].

3200-4400 m

Fl. & Fr. Per.: July-August.

Grassy slopes, meadows, marshy ground, sandy bottoms, roadsides, disturbed ground; 3000–4700 m.

Poa annua var. sikkimensis Stapf in J. D. Hooker, Fl. Brit. India 7: 346. 1896 ["1897"]; P. eragrostioides L. Liu; P. tunicata Keng ex C. Ling.