Phleum alpinum L.
alpine timothy
Poaceae (Grass family)
Introduction to Vascular Plants
alpine timothy
Poaceae (Grass family)
Introduction to Vascular Plants
Species Information
General:
Perennial, strongly tufted grass from fibrous roots; stems often decumbent, and rooting at the nodes, not bulbous at the base, 15-50 cm tall/long.
Leaves:
Sheaths smooth; blades flat, 4-7 mm wide, the margins rough; ligules blunt, nearly entire, 1-3 (4) mm long; ear-shaped lobes at the leaf-bases lacking or small and blunt to rounded, more obvious on the upper leaves.
Flowers:
Inflorescence a nearly globe-shaped to short-cylindrical panicle, 1-4.5 cm long, often over 1 cm wide when pressed; glumes hairy on the sides, fringed with long, bristlelike hairs on the keels, 3.5-4.5 mm long, abruptly narrowed to the stout awns, the awns 1.5-2.5 (3) mm long; lemmas short-hairy, toothed by the 5 nerves, 2-2.5 mm long; paleas nearly equal to the lemmas; anthers 1-1.4 (1.5) mm long.
Illustration
If more than one illustration is available for a species (e.g., separate illustrations were provided for two subspecies) then links to the separate images will be provided below. Note that individual subspecies or varietal illustrations are not always available.
Illustration Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia
USDA Species Characteristics
Ecology
Ecological Framework for Phleum alpinum
The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from
original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range.
(Updated August, 2013)
The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from
original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range.
(Updated August, 2013)
| Site Information |
Value / Class |
||
|
Avg |
Min |
Max |
|
| Elevation
(metres) |
1879 | 7 | 2563 |
| Slope
Gradient (%) |
21 | 0 | 220 |
|
Aspect (degrees) |
164 | 0 | 360 |
| Soil
Moisture Regime (SMR) [0 - very xeric; 4 - mesic; 8 - hydric] |
4 | 0 | 8 |
| Modal
Nutrient Regime
Class |
C | ||
| #
of field plots species was recorded in: |
1008 | ||
| Modal
BEC Zone Class |
ESSF | ||
|
All BEC Zones (# of stations/zone) species was recorded in |
AT(76), BAFA(88), BWBS(3), CMA(4), CWH(5), ESSF(649), IMA(49), MH(19), MS(32), SBPS(3), SBS(5), SWB(23) | ||
|
Source:
Klinkenberg 2013
|
|||
Habitat and Range
Moist to mesic meadows and streambanks from the montane to alpine zones; common throughout BC except rare on the Queen Charlotte Islands and Vancouver Island; circumpolar, N to AK, YT and NT, E to NF and S to NH, ME, SD, NM, AZ and CA; Greenland, Iceland, Eurasia, S America.Status Information
Synonyms
Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Phleum alpinum var. commutatum (Gaudin) Griseb.
Phleum commutatum Gaudin
Phleum commutatum var. americanum (Fourn.) Hultén