Poa compressaL.

Canada bluegrass

WFO wfo-0000892001 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Poa compressa, photographed by Pavel Kacl
fig. a Pavel Kacl, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-06-11 / obs. 205272723
Poa compressa, photographed by Pavel Kacl
fig. b Pavel Kacl, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 202553691
Poa compressa, photographed by Michael J. Papay
fig. c Michael J. Papay, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 184075999
Poa compressa, photographed by Dmitriy Bochkov
fig. d Dmitriy Bochkov, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 160907368
Poa compressa, photographed by Dmitriy Bochkov
fig. e Dmitriy Bochkov, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 157974733
Poa compressa, photographed by Liam Steele
fig. f Liam Steele, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 145664290
Poa compressa, photographed by Henry "Nick" Robertson
fig. g Henry "Nick" Robertson, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 143861749
Poa compressa, photographed by Christian Berg
fig. h Christian Berg, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 135519524

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 47 botanical countries

Regions where Poa compressa is native: Algeria, Morocco, China North-Central, China South-Central, China Southeast, Cyprus, Iran, Kazakhstan, Lebanon-Syria, North Caucasus, Qinghai, Transcaucasus, Türkiye, Xinjiang, Albania, Austria, Baltic States, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Central European Russia, Corse, Czechia-Slovakia, Denmark, East European Russia, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Krym, Netherlands, Northwest European Russia, Norway, NW. Balkan Pen., Poland, Romania, Sardegna, Sicilia, South European Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye-in-Europe, Ukraine AlgeriaMoroccoChina North-CentralChina South-CentralChina SoutheastCyprusIranKazakhstanLebanon-SyriaNorth CaucasusQinghaiTranscaucasusTürkiyeXinjiangAlbaniaAustriaBaltic StatesBelarusBelgiumBulgariaCentral European RussiaCorseCzechia-SlovakiaDenmarkEast European RussiaFinlandFranceGermanyGreeceHungaryItalyKrymNetherlandsNorthwest European RussiaNorwayNW. Balkan Pen.PolandRomaniaSiciliaSouth European RussiaSpainSwedenSwitzerlandTürkiye-in-EuropeUkraine Sardegna
Native distribution of Poa compressa, 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
Albania ALB EUROPE
Austria AUT
Baltic States BLT
Belarus BLR
Belgium BGM
Bulgaria BUL
Central European Russia RUC
Corse COR
Czechia-Slovakia CZE
Denmark DEN
East European Russia RUE
Finland FIN
France FRA
Germany GER
Great Britain GRB
Greece GRC
Hungary HUN
Italy ITA
Krym KRY
Netherlands NET
Northwest European Russia RUW
Norway NOR
NW. Balkan Pen. YUG
Poland POL
Romania ROM
Sardegna SAR
Sicilia SIC
South European Russia RUS
Spain SPA
Sweden SWE
Switzerland SWI
Türkiye-in-Europe TUE
Ukraine UKR
China North-Central CHN ASIA-TEMPERATE
China South-Central CHC
China Southeast CHS
Cyprus CYP
Iran IRN
Kazakhstan KAZ
Lebanon-Syria LBS
North Caucasus NCS
Qinghai CHQ
Transcaucasus TCS
Türkiye TUR
Xinjiang CHX
Algeria ALG AFRICA
Morocco MOR

Not drawn on the map: Great Britain. 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 2,007 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -14.6 °C -8.7 °C -0.7 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 21.0 °C 23.4 °C 27.8 °C
Annual rainfall 522 mm 693 mm 1,238 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 74 mm 115 mm 235 mm

It is found where winters bring hard frost. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 2,007 research-grade observations of Poa compressa 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 38 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.

  • Paneion compressum (L.) Lunell
  • Poa anceps C.Presl
  • Poa cenisia subsp. sardoa Em.Schmid
  • Poa compressa f. depauperata Millsp.
  • Poa compressa subsp. langeana (Rchb.) Nyman
  • Poa compressa subsp. langeana (Rchb.) Rouy
  • Poa compressa subsp. langiana (Rchb.) Arcang.
  • Poa compressa var. arenosa Schur
  • Poa compressa var. collina Schur
  • Poa compressa var. contracta Neilr.
  • Poa compressa var. depauperata Mutel
  • Poa compressa var. diffusa Neilr.
  • Poa compressa var. effusa Ducommun
  • Poa compressa var. erecta Gray
  • Poa compressa var. expansa N.Böhling & H.Scholz
  • Poa compressa var. langeana (Rchb.) W.D.J.Koch
  • Poa compressa var. major K.Koch
  • Poa compressa var. multiflora Döll
  • Poa compressa var. muralis (Wibel) Heynh.
  • Poa compressa var. pauciflora Gagnep.
  • Poa compressa var. pauper K.Koch
  • Poa compressa var. polynoda (Parn.) Syme
  • Poa compressa var. polynoda (Parnell) Asch. & Graebn.
  • Poa compressa var. subcompressa (Parn.) J.Woods

and 14 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. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. 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.