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Sandberg bluegrass

Poa secunda

Also called Canby's Bluegrass, Nevada Bluegrass, Sandberg's Bluegrass, Alkali Bluegrass, Big Bluegrass, Curly Bluegrass, One Sided Bluegrass

Sandberg bluegrass
Photo: Anthony Valois and the National Park Service, Public domain

Sandberg bluegrass (Poa secunda) is a drought-tolerant perennial bunchgrass native to western North America and parts of South America. It is valued as forage and for stabilising soil and revegetating land after fires, and it needs little water once established.

Family
Poaceae (Grass family)
Grows as
Perennial
Light
Full sun, Part shade
Water
Water deeply but infrequently; established plants tolerate drought well.
Soil
Well-drained soil, tolerates sandy, gravelly and alkaline soils.
Temperature
Hardy in cold climates, tolerates winter cold well; protect young plants from prolonged heat stress.
How easy
Easy
Safety
Not known to be toxic
Edible
Yes, some parts
Native range
Alaska to W. & C. U.S.A., Mexico (Baja California), Chile to S. Argentina
Climate
temperate

About

Poa secunda (variously known by the common names of Sandberg bluegrass, alkali bluegrass, big bluegrass, Canby's bluegrass, Nevada bluegrass, one-sided bluegrass, Pacific bluegrass, pine bluegrass, slender bluegrass, wild bluegrass, and curly bluegrass) is a widespread species of perennial bunchgrass native to North and South America. It is highly resistant to drought conditions, and provides excellent fodder; and has also been used in controlling soil erosion, and as revegetator, often after forest fires. Cultivars include 'Canbar', 'Service', 'Sherman', and 'Supernova'. Historically, indigenous Americans, such as the Gosiute of Utah, have used P. secunda for food. It was originally described botanically in 1830 by Jan Svatopluk Presl, from a holotype collected from Chile by Thaddäus Haenke in 1790.

Other Poa plants

Annual Meadow Grass · Texas bluegrass · Arctic bluegrass · Fowl bluegrass · Smooth Meadow-grass · Bluegrass

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Poa secunda by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.

The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.

Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.

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