Participant Info

Species

Koeleria spicata [Trisetum spicatum] [Aira spicata] [Avena spicata] etc.

Family

Poaceae

CommonName

alpine oat-grass, spike junegrass, spike trisetum, narrow false oat

Presence

yes

Status

native

EarliestDate

1884

LatestDate

2023

Ecosystem

montane, subalpine, tundra

Geobotanical

SSawatch, Garitas, SSanjuans, Culebras, NCristos

Counties

Alamosa, Conejos, Costilla, Hinsdale, Mineral, Rio Grande, Saguache

Passes

Elwood, Grayback, Hayden, La Veta, Stony, Wolf Creek

WildlifePreserves

Other Localities

PhotoRecords

Cecelia Alexander, Conejos Co, 9 km NWN of Neff Mt, 1 July 2018

Comments

In the Watershed, alpine oat-grass, perennial and cool-season, is one of the staple higher elevation grasses for foraging animals. There is an abundance of vouchers, mostly from the west mountain ranges. Many are from alpine ridges and summits (e.g., Grayback Peak, Rio Grande Co). Koeleria spicata (often under an older name, Trisetum spicatum) is wide spread in all Western states and northern New England, rare around the Great Lakes. The species follows the Rio Grande drainage through all of New Mexico, but not on into Texas. World wide, circumboreal, this extremely wide-spread species is native to both the Old and New World.

Annotation