• GENERAL DISTRIBUTION
• ECOSYSTEMS
• STATES
• BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS
• KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS
• SAF COVER TYPES
• SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES
• HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES

GENERAL DISTRIBUTION:

Plains bluegrass occurs from British Columbia east to Manitoba and south to Minnesota, Texas, and New Mexico [8,10,12,24]. It is most common east of the Continental Divide [10,24].

Plants previously identified as plains bluegrass in Utah are probably arctic bluegrass [17,24], and plants previously identified as plains bluegrass in Arizona are probably mutton grass [24].

ECOSYSTEMS:

FRES29 Sagebrush
FRES30 Desert shrub
FRES33 Southwestern shrubsteppe
FRES35 Pinyon-juniper
FRES36 Mountain grasslands
FRES37 Mountain meadows
FRES38 Plains grasslands
FRES39 Prairie
FRES41 Wet grasslands
FRES44 Alpine

STATES:

CO   IA   KS   MN   MT     NE   
NM   N   OK   SD   TX   WY

AB   BC   MB   SK

BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS:

 8 Northern Rocky Mountains
 9 Middle Rocky Mountains
10 Wyoming Basin
11 Southern Rocky Mountains
12 Colorado Plateau
13 Rocky Mountain Piedmont
14 Great Plains
15 Black Hills Uplift
16 Upper Missouri and Broken Lands

KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS:

K038 Great Basin sagebrush
K040 Saltbrush-greasewood
K047 Fescue-oatgrass
K051 Wheatgrass-bluegrass
K052 Alpine meadows and barren
K056 Wheatgrass-needlegrass shrubsteppe
K058 Grama-tobosa shrubsteppe
K063 Foothills prairie
K064 Grama-needlegrass-wheatgrass
K065 Grama-buffalograss
K066 Wheatgrass-needlegrass
K067 Wheatgrass-bluestem-needlegrass
K068 Wheatgrass-grama prairie
K070 Sandsage-bluestem prairie
K073 Northern cordgrass prairie
K074 Nebraska Sand Hills prairie
K076 Blackland prairie
K088 Fayette prairie

SAF COVER TYPES:

No Entry

SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES:

101 Bluebunch wheatgrass
103 Green fescue
213 Alpine grassland
216 Montane meadows
301 Bluebunch wheat grass-blue grama
302 Bluebunch wheatgrass-Sandberg bluegrass
303 Bluebunch wheatgrass-western wheatgrass
310 Needle-and-thread-blue grama
313 Tufted hairgrass-sedge
314 Big sagebrush-bluebunch wheatgrass
401 Basin big sagebrush
402 Mountain big sagebrush
403 Wyoming big sagebrush
410 Alpine rangeland
501 Saltbush-greasewood
502 Grama-galleta
505 Grama-tobosa shrub
601 Bluestem prairie
602 Bluestem-prairie sandreed
603 Prairie sandreed-needlegrass
604 Bluestem-grama prairie
605 Sandsage prairie
606 Wheatgrass-bluestem-needlegrass
607 Wheatgrass-needlegrass
608 Wheatgrass-grama-needlegrass
609 Wheatgrass-grama
610 Wheatgrass
611 Blue grama-buffalograss
612 Sagebrush-grass
615 Wheatgrass-saltgrass-grama
701 Alkali sacaton-tobosagrass
702 Black grama-alkali sacaton
703 Black grama-sideoats grama
704 Blue grama-western wheatgrass
705 Blue grama-galleta
706 Blue grama-sideoats grama
707 Blue grama-sideoats grama-black grama
708 Bluestem-dropseed
709 Bluestem-grama
710 Galleta-alkali sacaton
713 Grama-muhly-threeawn
714 Grama-bluestem
715 Grama-buffalograss
720 Sand bluestem-little bluestem (dunes)
721 Sand bluestem-little bluestem (plains)
722 Sand sagebrush-mixed prairie

HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES:

KS: Associates of plains bluegrass in mixed-grass prairie include little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium) , buffalo grass (Buchloe dactyloides), prairie junegrass (Koelaria macrantha), red threeawn (Aristida purpurea), and sixweeks fescue (Vulpia octoflora) [28].

Plant associates in salt grass (Distichlis spicata) communities of Kansas include saltmarsh bulrush (Scirpus maritimus), spear saltbush (Atriplex patula), silverscale saltbush (A. argentea), Pursh seepweed (Suaeda calceoliformis), foxtail barley (Cristestion jubatum), summer-cypress (Kochia scoparia), and prostrate heath aster (Aster ericoides var. prostratus) [27].

SD: Plant associates in a salt grass-foxtail barley community of South Dakota include Nuttall's alkali grass (Puccinellia nuttalliana) and western wheatgrass (Pascopyrum smithii) [26].

ND: A depauperate plant community dominated by plains bluegrass has been described by Lura, Barker, and Nyren [16] in Range plant communities of the Central Grasslands Research Station in south central North Dakota. The plains grassland-salt grass-foxtail barley community occurs on poorly drained, saline soil. Plant community members include Nuttall's alkali grass, alkali muhly (Muhlenbergia asperifolia), glasswort (Salicornia rubra), and sandspurrey (Spergularia marina) [16].

WY: Associates of plains bluegrass in shortgrass prairie of Wyoming include blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis), buffalo grass, western wheatgrass, pale agoseris (Agoseris glauca), lambsquarters (Chenopodium album), white thistle (Cirsium hookerianum), golden sedge (Carex aurea), thickspike wheatgrass (Elymus lanceolatus), plains reedgrass (Calamagrostis montanensis), tufted hairgrass (Deschampsia caespitosa), plains muhly (M. cuspidata), and slender milkvetch (Astragalus gracilis) [1,3].

In alpine plant communities, associates include black sedge (Carex atriformis), shortstalk sedge (C. podocarpa), tufted hairgrass, purple reedgrass (Calamagrostis purpurascens), Thurber's fescue (Festuca thurberi), sheep fescue (F. ovina), American bistort (Polygonum bistortoides), and western yarrow (Achillea millefolium) [3].

AB: Plains bluegrass is at the northern limit of its range in extreme northern Alberta. Associates of plains bluegrass in dry grasslands of Woods Buffalo National Park include prairie junegrass, Canadian needlegrass (Stipa curtiseta), Richardson needlegrass (S. richardsonii), manybranched pepperweed (Ledpidium ramosissium), prairiesmoke (Geum triflorum), candle anemone (Anemone cylindrica), bastard toadflax (Comandra umbellata), and northwest cinquefoil (Potentilla gracilis) [20,22].

Related categories for SPECIES: Poa arida | Plains Bluegrass