Poa alpigenaLindm.

WFO wfo-0000891417 Accepted WFO 2026-06 3 photographs CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–c · 1 observation

This species has been photographed under an open licence only 1 time, so some figures below are different views of the same plant, taken on the same day, rather than different individuals. They are usually different parts of it: the leaf, the flower, the bark.

Poa alpigena, photographed by nina_nesterova
fig. a nina_nesterova, CC BY 4.0 / 2021-07-13 / obs. 144031725
Poa alpigena, photographed by nina_nesterova
fig. b nina_nesterova, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 144031741
Poa alpigena, photographed by nina_nesterova
fig. c nina_nesterova, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 144031757

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 50 botanical countries

Regions where Poa alpigena is native: Altay, Amur, Buryatiya, China North-Central, China South-Central, Inner Mongolia, Kamchatka, Khabarovsk, Krasnoyarsk, Kuril Is., Magadan, Manchuria, Qinghai, Sakhalin, Tibet, Tuva, West Siberia, Yakutiya, Nepal, Pakistan, West Himalaya, Baltic States, East European Russia, Finland, Føroyar, Iceland, North European Russia, Norway, Svalbard, Sweden, Alaska, Alberta, British Columbia, Colorado, Greenland, Labrador, Maine, Manitoba, Mexico Northeast, Montana, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Newfoundland, Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Ontario, Québec, Saskatchewan, Vermont, Yukon AltayAmurBuryatiyaChina North-CentralChina South-CentralInner MongoliaKamchatkaKhabarovskKrasnoyarskMagadanManchuriaQinghaiSakhalinTibetTuvaWest SiberiaYakutiyaNepalPakistanWest HimalayaBaltic StatesEast European RussiaFinlandIcelandNorth European RussiaNorwaySvalbardSwedenAlaskaAlbertaBritish ColumbiaColoradoGreenlandLabradorMaineManitobaMexico NortheastMontanaNew HampshireNew MexicoNewfoundlandNorthwest TerritoriesNunavutOntarioQuébecSaskatchewanVermontYukon Føroyar
Native distribution of Poa alpigena, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Alaska ASK NORTHERN AMERICA
Alberta ABT
British Columbia BRC
Colorado COL
Greenland GNL
Labrador LAB
Maine MAI
Manitoba MAN
Mexico Northeast MXE
Montana MNT
New Hampshire NWH
New Mexico NWM
Newfoundland NFL
Northwest Territories NWT
Nunavut NUN
Ontario ONT
Québec QUE
Saskatchewan SAS
Vermont VER
Yukon YUK
Altay ALT ASIA-TEMPERATE
Amur AMU
Buryatiya BRY
China North-Central CHN
China South-Central CHC
Inner Mongolia CHI
Kamchatka KAM
Khabarovsk KHA
Krasnoyarsk KRA
Kuril Is. KUR
Magadan MAG
Manchuria CHM
Qinghai CHQ
Sakhalin SAK
Tibet CHT
Tuva TVA
West Siberia WSB
Yakutiya YAK
Baltic States BLT EUROPE
East European Russia RUE
Finland FIN
Føroyar FOR
Iceland ICE
North European Russia RUN
Norway NOR
Svalbard SVA
Sweden SWE
Nepal NEP ASIA-TROPICAL
Pakistan PAK
West Himalaya WHM

Not drawn on the map: Kuril Is.. We hold no public-domain boundary for this region, so it is listed rather than guessed at.

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Where it actually grows measured, from 81 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -33.3 °C -26.7 °C -18.9 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 6.3 °C 13.4 °C 19.9 °C
Annual rainfall 349 mm 589 mm 1,344 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 51 mm 74 mm 206 mm

It is found where winters are arctic. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 81 research-grade observations of Poa alpigena that carry a coordinate, and this is the range those places actually span. The 5th and 95th percentiles are used rather than the minimum and maximum, because a single cultivated specimen in a heated conservatory should not widen a tropical plant's range to the Arctic.

This is not a hardiness zone. A USDA zone is the average annual extreme minimum temperature. The figure above is the mean daily minimum of the coldest month, which is a different quantity and is typically far warmer. Reading one as the other would place a plant several zones too warm, so we do not publish a hardiness zone, because we do not have one.

Also published as 25 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Poa alpigena f. oblonga Lindm.
  • Poa alpigena f. pyramidata Lindm.
  • Poa alpigena f. villosa Lindm.
  • Poa alpigena f. vivipara Roshev.
  • Poa alpigena subsp. alpigena
  • Poa alpigena subsp. staintonii Melderis
  • Poa alpigena var. domestica (Laest.) Lindm.
  • Poa alpigena var. iantha (Laest.) Lindm.
  • Poa angustifolia var. alpigena Vorosch.
  • Poa dolichachyra Keng ex Keng f. & G.Q.Song
  • Poa irrigata f. rigens (Hartm.) Lindm.
  • Poa poophagorum var. lanata Bor
  • Poa pratensis f. hultenii B.Boivin
  • Poa pratensis f. prolifera Simmons
  • Poa pratensis subsp. alpestris (Andersson) Portal
  • Poa pratensis subsp. alpigena (Blytt) Hiitonen
  • Poa pratensis subsp. rigens (Hartm.) Tzvelev
  • Poa pratensis subsp. staintonii (Melderis) Dickoré
  • Poa pratensis var. alpestris Andersson
  • Poa pratensis var. alpigena Blytt
  • Poa pratensis var. domestica Laest.
  • Poa pratensis var. iantha Laest.
  • Poa pratensis var. rigens (Hartm.) Laest.
  • Poa rigens Hartm.

and 1 more.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.