薇早熟禾 wei zao shu he

Perennials, loosely tufted or weakly stoloniferous; shoots extravaginal and intravaginal. Culms erect, sometimes decumbent at base, few per tuft, 17–60 cm tall, 0.8–1.3 mm thick, smooth, nodes 2 or 3, 1 or 2 exserted, uppermost to 1/4–1/2 way up culm. Leaf sheaths mostly 1.5–2.5 mm wide, ribs not distinctly raised, smooth, glabrous, lower leaves bladeless or with short blades, uppermost closed for 1/2–3/4 of length, 5–8 cm, 1.5–5 × as long as blade; blade green, flat, thin, 2–5 cm × 1.5–3.5 mm, surfaces smooth and glabrous, margins scabrid, longer upward along culm; ligule 2.5–4 mm, abaxially smooth, of tillers 0.5–1.5 mm, collars smooth, glabrous. Panicle open, lax, 3.5–12 × 3–8 cm; branches spreading, 1 or 2 per node, capillary, rounded, smooth, longest 2.5–5 cm with 1–3(or 4) spikelets in distal 1/4. Spikelets rosy-violet tinged and a little grayish, 4.5–7 mm, florets usually 3–5, mostly perfect, infrequently female; vivipary absent; rachilla internodes to 1–1.5 mm, smooth, glabrous; glumes unequal, submembranous-papery, smooth or upper keel with a few hooks, lower glume 2.7–4.1 mm, 1- or 3-veined, upper glume 3.7–4.7 mm, 3-veined; lemmas oblong, membranous-papery, 3.5–4.5 mm, margins broadly membranous, apex obtuse, blunt, intermediate veins moderately distinct, keel loosely villous for up to 2/3 of length, marginal veins to 1/2, surfaces smooth, abaxially glabrous or loosely pilulose; callus glabrous or sparsely webbed, usually on proximal florets, hairs less than 1/2 as long as lemma; palea smooth and glabrous between keels, keels scabrid. Anthers 1.7–3.25 mm, vestigial or later aborted (up to 1.5 mm). Fl. and fr. Aug.

Alpine swales, stony slopes, glacial outwash; 2800–3600 m. Xinjiang (Altay Shan, Tian Shan) [Kazakhstan, Russia (Altay)].

The paratype cited from Mongolia is now within Xinjiang, in the Altay Shan very close to the new Mongolia-Russia border. Tzvelev (Zlaki SSSR, 460. 1976) placed this species in Poa sect. Nivicolae, based on the membranous-papery spikelet bracts and nearly smooth palea keels, to which features we would add the presence of female flowers in some spikelets. However, chloroplast and nuclear DNA markers place it in P. sect. Micrantherae.