Grass or grass-like · Poaceae
Arctic bluegrass
Poa arctica
Arctic bluegrass is recorded as native to 7 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 83 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Arctic bluegrass at a glance
- Native in
- 83 counties, across 7 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 1a PLANTS minimum temperature −62°F
- Mature height
- 2 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Full sun (shade-intolerant) Moisture use not recorded
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 1a. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −62°F; zone 1a winters bottom out at −60°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Arctic bluegrass is recorded as native to 7 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 83 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 83 where it is listed.
- Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area, AK
- Rio Arriba County, NM
- Bethel Census Area, AK
- Bernalillo County, NM
- Okanogan County, WA
- Sandoval County, NM
- Boulder County, CO
- Larimer County, CO
- Taos County, NM
- Anchorage Municipality, AK
- Mesa County, CO
- San Miguel County, NM
- Whatcom County, WA
- Kenai Peninsula Borough, AK
- Lincoln County, WY
Native counties by state
- Alaska 23 counties
- Colorado 23 counties
- Nevada 1 county
- New Mexico 8 counties
- Utah 14 counties
- Washington 5 counties
- Wyoming 9 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Graminoid
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 2 ft
- Growth rate
- Not recorded
- Growth form
- Stoloniferous
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Short
- Active growth period
- Spring and Summer
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intolerant (full sun (shade-intolerant))
- Moisture use
- Not recorded
- Drought tolerance
- Low
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- None
- Precipitation range
- 14 to 118 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse
- pH range
- 5 to 7.8
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Not recorded
- Salinity tolerance
- Not recorded
- Fertility requirement
- Medium
- Minimum root depth
- 12 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −62°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 1a and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 120
- Fire tolerance
- Medium
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Purple
- Showy flowers
- No
- Bloom period
- Not recorded
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Not recorded
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- Not recorded
- Family
- Poaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- POAR2
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Poa arctica (PLANTS symbol POAR2).
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources