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Poa fendleriana <br />(Muttongrass) <br />Muttongrass, also called Fendler bluegrass and mutton bluegrass, is one of the <br />most widely distributed and important of native bluegrasses. In fact, throughout <br />Che central Rocky Mountains it ranks among the 20 most important range grasses. <br />The common name muttongrass is very appropriate, as it is one of the most nutri- <br />tious forage plants in New Mexico and Arizona, being prized for fattening sheep. <br />Its specific name fendleriana is in honor of August Fendler (1813-83). <br />This species ranges from southeastern British Columbia to Manitoba, western South <br />ako[a, Colorado, western Texas, northern Ptexico, California, and Idaho. It has <br />been reported from eastern Washington, but the record is very doubtful. In New <br />Mexico and other parts of the Southwest, this tufted perennial is probably the <br />only native species of blue grass sufficiently abundant [o be of much range <br />value. In the southern parts of its range this bunch grass usually grows at <br />• higher elevations, but does not appear on the lower slopes and mesas, where the <br />summers are too ho[ and dry for bluegrasses. However, throughout its more north- <br />erly range it frequently occurs on the foothills and lower slopes, usually inter- <br />mixed with needlegrasses, bromes, pentstemons, sagebrush, and sedges. <br />Muttongrass grows typically from the pinon-juniper belt, through the ponderosa <br />pine and aspen types, to the Engelmann spruce-lodge pole pine zone, and reaches a <br />maximum elevation of about 7,000 feet.in Montana and Idaho, 10,000 feet in Utah, <br />and 12,000 fee[ in Colorado. I[ appears chiefly on ridges and slopes and in open <br />timbered areas and well-drained parks and meadows. Although [his grass grows <br />most commonly on well-drained, rich clay loams, it also inhabits drier, less fer- <br />tile, shallow, gravelly or sandy soils on open hillsides, where i[ frequently <br />becomes abundant. This species, like Sandberg bluegrass (Poa secunda, syn. P. <br />sandbergii) is one of the most drought-resistant of the bluegrasses and because <br />of its deep Fibrous root system, it frequently is an effective barrier against <br />erosion. Germination tests have shown that the seeds of muttongrass are of low <br />viability, which doubtless partly accounts for its failure thus far in artificial <br />range reseeding experiments. <br />2-77 <br />