Description

Taxonomy

Kingdom	Phylum	Class	Order	Family	Genus
Plantae	Magnoliophyta	Liliopsida	Cyperales	Poaceae	Poa

Synonyms

Invasion History

Chesapeake Bay Status

First Record	Population	Range	Introduction	Residency	Source Region	Native Region	Vectors
1837	Established	Stable	Introduced	Boundary Resident	Europe	Eurasia	Agriculture(Agricultural Weed)

History of Spread

Poa trivialis (Rough Bluegrass) is a Eurasian grass which was widely cultivated, and was an early introduction to North America, probably introduced in the 17th century (Wells and Brown 2001). It was widespread by 1814 (Pursh 1814), and is now found from Canada to GA, TX, and the Pacific Coast (Hitchcock and Chase 1950; Natural Resources Conservation Service 2000), usually on 'meadows, moist woods, and along roadsides' (Gleason and Cronquist 1991). It is now found in Australia, New Zealand, South America, and South Africa (Swedish Natural History Museum 1998).

In the Chesapeake Bay region, it was first reported by Aikin (1837) from 'fields' in the vicinity of Baltimore. It is now widespread in the Chesapeake Bay watershed (Brown and Brown 1984; Harvill et al. 1992). The only specific tidal record is from Otter Point Creek Marsh, an upper Bay tidal wetland, (Pasternack et al. 2000), where it is common, with most plants in the upper intertidal, and some plants in the lower intertidal 'floating-leaf community'. It was also reported 'along the Potomac above Georgetown' (Hitchcock and Standley 1919).

History References- Aikin 1837; Brown and Brown 1984; Gleason and Cronquist 1991; Harvill et al. 1992; Hitchcock and Chase 1950; .Hitchcock and Standley 1919; Natural Resources Conservation Service 2000; Pasternack et al. 2000; Pursh 1814; Swedish Natural History Museum 1998; Wells and Brown 2001

Invasion Comments

Ecology

Environmental Tolerances

	For Survival		For Reproduction
	Minimum	Maximum	Minimum	Maximum
Temperature (ºC)
Salinity (‰)	0.0		0.0
Oxygen
pH
	Salinity Range	fresh-oligo

Age and Growth

	Male	Female
Minimum Adult Size (mm)
Typical Adult Size (mm)
Maximum Adult Size (mm)
Maximum Longevity (yrs)
Typical Longevity (yrs

Reproduction

	Start	Peak	End
Reproductive Season
Typical Number of Young Per Reproductive Event
Sexuality Mode(s)
Mode(s) of Asexual Reproduction
Fertilization Type(s)
More than One Reproduction Event per Year
Reproductive Startegy
Egg/Seed Form

Impacts

Economic Impacts in Chesapeake Bay

Poa trivialis (Rough Bluegrass) is now widespread in the Chesapeake Bay watershed (Brown and Brown 1984; Harvill et al. 1992), where it is widely planted as a pasture grass. Economic impacts from the Bay proper have not been reported.

References- Brown and Brown 1984; Harvill et al. 1992; Pasternack et al. 2000

Economic Impacts Outside of Chesapeake Bay

Poa trivialis (Rough Bluegrass) is now widespread across North America (Dore and McNeill 1980; Hitchcock and Chase 1950), and much of the world's temperate zone (Swedish Natural History Museum 1998), where it is widely planted as a pasture grass. Economic impacts from tidal wetlands have not been reported.

References- Dore and McNeill 1980; Hitchcock and Chase 1950; Pasternack et al. 2000; Swedish Natural History Museum 1998

Ecological Impacts on Chesapeake Native Species

Poa trivialis (Rough Bluegrass) is now widespread in the Chesapeake Bay watershed (Brown and Brown 1984; Harvill et al. 1992), but has few reports from tidal wetlands. The only specific tidal record is from Otter Point Creek Marsh, an upper Bay tidal wetland where it is common (Pasternack et al. 2000). Impacts on native biota in tidal wetlands have not been reported, but this species is listed as moderately invasive in VA (Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation 1999).

References- Brown and Brown 1984; Harvill et al. 1992; Pasternack et al. 2000; Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation 1999

Ecological Impacts on Other Chesapeake Non-Native Species

Poa trivialis (Rough Bluegrass) is now widespread in the Chesapeake Bay watershed (Brown and Brown 1984; Harvill et al. 1992), but has few reports from tidal wetlands. The only specific tidal record is from Otter Point Creek Marsh, an upper Bay tidal wetland where it is common (Pasternack et al. 2000). Impacts on other exotic biota have not been reported.

References- Brown and Brown 1984; Harvill et al. 1992; Pasternack et al. 2000

References

Aikin, W. E. A. (1837) Catalogue of phenogamous plants and ferns, native or naturalized, growing in the vicinity of Baltimore, Maryland., Transactions of the Maryland Academy of Sciences and Literature 1: 55-91

Brown, Melvin L.; Brown, Russell G. (1984) Herbaceous Plants of Maryland, , College Park. Pp.

Dore, William G.; McNeill, J. (1980) Grasses of Ontario, Agriculture Canada Monograph 26: 1-566

Fernald, Merritt L. (1950) Gray's Manual of Botany, In: (Eds.) . , New York. Pp.

Gleason, Henry A.; Cronquist, Arthur (1991) Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada, In: (Eds.) . , Bronx, New York. Pp.

Harvill, A. M.; Bradley, Ted R.; Stevens, Charles E.; Wieboldt, Thomas F.; Ware, Donna M. E.; Ogle, Douglas W.; Ramsey, Gwynn W.; Fleming, Gary P. (1992) Atlas of the Virginia Flora, , Burkeville, VA. Pp.

Hitchcock, A. S.; Chase, Agnes (1950) Manual of Grasses of the United States., In: (Eds.) . , Washington, D.C.. Pp.

Hitchcock, A. S.; Standley, P. C. (1919) Flora of the District of Columbia and Vicinity., In: (Eds.) . , Washington, D. C.. Pp.

1997-2024 USDA PLANTS Database.. Onine databse

Pasternack, Gregory B.; Hilgartner, William B.; Brush, Grace S. (2000) Biogeomorphology of an upper Chesapeake Bay river-mouth tidal freshwater marsh, Wetlands 20: 520-537

Pursh, Frederick (1814) Flora Americae Septentrionalis or, a Systematic Arrangement and Description of the Plants of North America, , Hirschburg. Pp.

1999 Invasive Alien Plant Species of Virginia. http://www.state.va.us/~dcr/dnh/invlist.htm

Wells, Elizabeth Fortson; Brown, Rebecca Louise (2000) An annotated checklist of the vascular plants in the forest at historic Mount Vernon: A legacy from the past., Castanea 65: 242-257