79. Poa attenuata Trinius, Mém. Acad. Imp. Sci. St.-Pétersbourg Divers Savans. 2: 527. 1835.
渐尖早熟禾 jian jian zao shu he
Culms densely tufted, 7–15(–25) cm tall, pale, glabrous or slightly scabrid under the panicle, nodes 2, both near culm base. Shoots usually intravaginal. Leaf sheath usually slightly scabrid, uppermost 1/2 as long as internode; blade folded or inrolled to needle-shape, firm, usually up to 1/2 as long as sheath, 0.3–0.8(–1.5) mm wide, scabrid; ligule 1.5–2.5 mm. Panicle dense, contracted to spiciform, a bit more open at anthesis, 1.5–4 × 0.4–1 cm; branches 2 or 3 per node, 1/5–1/3 as long as panicle. Spikelets lanceolate, (2.5–)3–4.5(–5) mm, florets 2 or 3(–5); rachilla warty; glumes shorter than spikelet, usually equal to first lemma, lemma (2.5–)3–3.5 mm, keel shortly villous for 1/2 of length, marginal veins for 1/3, other parts glabrous; callus webbed or glabrous; palea glabrous between veins. Anthers 1.2–1.5 mm. Fl. Jun–Aug.
Dry grasslands, rocky and stepped slopes; 3300–5500 m. Gansu, Hebei, Nei Mongol, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Xinjiang, Xizang, Yunnan [Bhutan, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia (Siberia), Tajikistan, Uzbekistan].
Most botanists recognize Poa attenuata as one of the most complicated and problematic complexes in the flora of C Asia. It has hybridized with P. glauca to form an apomictic complex, which is treated here as P. albertii, while P. attenuata is supposed to be a more or less pure group of xeromorphic alpine populations.