季茛早熟禾 ji gen zao shu he

Poa dshilgensis Roshevitz in Komarov, Fl. URSS 2: 377. 1934.

Perennials, densely tufted; shoots with bulbous bases. Culms 2–10(–19) cm tall, densely tufted, smooth. Leaf sheath margins hyaline, basal culm sheaths persistent, uppermost closed for 1/4 of length; blades folded, thin, 1–2 cm × 0.5–1 (–2.5) mm, surfaces scabrid, margins scabrid; ligules of tillers white, (2–)3–6 mm, 1/5–1/2 as long as blade. Panicle loosely contracted, oblong, compact, 0.8–2.3 cm; branches purplish violet, 1–3 per node, longest 0.5–1.5 cm. Spikelets 4–10 mm (2.5–4 mm in normal spikelets), florets 3–7; vivipary present in all or most spikelets; rachilla smooth, glabrous; glumes subequal, lower glume ca. 2 mm, upper glume ca. 2.5 mm; lemmas 1.8–2.5 mm, margins membranous, veins indistinct, keel and marginal veins proximally sparsely villous or more commonly glabrous throughout in viviparous spikelets; callus glabrous; palea keels scabrid. Anthers 1–1.5 mm (rarely developed in viviparous spikelets). Fl. and fr. Jun–Aug.

Mountain slopes, grasslands; ca. 2500 m. Xinjiang (Artux) [Afghanistan, Kazakhstan; SW Asia, S Europe].

Normal-flowered Poa timoleontis var. timoleontis occurs only in the Mediterranean region. The viviparous var. dshilgensis is known only from a few C Asian countries and one gathering from China, but we have expanded the circumscription to include taller viviparous plants from SW Asia and Europe; the long, white ligule and dwarf, bulbous-based habit make it readily recognizable. FRPS (9(2): 224–225. 2002) additionally reported viviparous P. timoleontis s.s. from China. Bor (in Rechinger, Fl. Iran. 70: 26. 1970) and Tzvelev (Zlaki SSSR, 449. 1976) gave the range of P. timoleontis var. timoleontis as Greece and SW Asia to Iran. No material from China seen by us matches the taller viviparous form, and it is possible that the material reported in FRPS belongs to P. bulbosa. In the former USSR, the viviparous var. dshilgensis is known only from the type, from Kazakhstan. Bor gave the range of P. dshilgensis as Afghanistan and Tajikistan, but no Russian or Tajikistani Flora has reported it from Tajikistan.