易乐早熟禾 yi le zao shu he

Perennials, loosely tufted, rhizomes not recorded; shoots extravaginal. Culms ascending, sometimes geniculate, 30–50 cm tall, 1–2 mm in diam., smooth, nodes 2 or 3, none or 1 exserted. Leaf sheaths loose, smooth, glabrous, lowermost scabrid, becoming fibrous, 8–13 cm, 3/5–1 × as long as blade, uppermost closed for ca. 1/9 of length; blade folded with margins inrolled, thin, 7–22 cm × 1–3 mm, abaxially shiny, smooth, adaxially scabrid, margins smooth; ligule 0.5–2(–2.5) mm, abaxially scabrid, apex truncate to obtuse, collar smooth, glabrous, or lowermost sparsely scabrid. Panicle open, 8–24 × 3–12 cm, longest internodes 2–7 cm; branches spreading to reflexed, flexuose, sometimes arched upward, 2 per node, proximally smooth to sparsely scabrid, distally scabrid on and between angles, longest with 5–15 well-spaced spikelets in distal 1/2, pedicel mostly shorter than spikelet. Spikelets cuneate, 5–7 mm, florets 2 or 3; vivipary absent; rachilla internodes 1.5–1.7 mm, smooth or scabrid, glabrous or pilulose; glumes subequal, surfaces minutely punctate with purple papillae, smooth or sparsely scabrid, keels straight, or slightly curved, finely scabrid, 3-veined, apex acuminate, lower glume 5.6–6.5 mm, upper glume 5.7–7 mm, as long as or slightly longer than first lemma; lemmas elliptic, 4.2–6.5 mm, apex acute, scabrid throughout, intermediate veins prominent, keel shortly villous for 1/3 of length, marginal veins sometimes near base; callus glabrous or sparsely webbed; palea scabrid throughout. Anthers (0.4–)0.6–1 mm. Fl. and fr. Jul–Aug.

Alpine grassy places; 3800–4000 m. ?Sichuan, ?Xizang, ?Yunnan [India (Sikkim), Nepal].

Poa eleanorae is unlike other species in the short-anthered group in having long, open sheaths and large spikelets with glumes as long as or longer than the first lemma. Specimens with well-preserved bases have not been seen, and it is possible that short rhizomes might be produced. The species was reported from Sichuan, Xizang, and Yunnan in FRPS (9(2): 170. 2002), but not in the provincial Chinese Floras. No authentic material from China has been seen by us.