Grass or grass-like · Poaceae
Fowl bluegrass
Poa palustris
Fowl bluegrass is recorded as native to 39 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 706 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Fowl bluegrass at a glance
- Native in
- 706 counties, across 39 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 3b PLANTS minimum temperature −38°F
- Mature height
- 4 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Sun to part shade Medium water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 3b. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −38°F; zone 3b winters bottom out at −35°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Fowl bluegrass is recorded as native to 39 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 706 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 706 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alaska 19 counties
- Arizona 4 counties
- California 19 counties
- Colorado 25 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- Delaware 2 counties
- District of Columbia 1 county
- Illinois 24 counties
- Indiana 9 counties
- Iowa 22 counties
- Maine 15 counties
- Maryland 4 counties
- Massachusetts 14 counties
- Michigan 60 counties
- Minnesota 55 counties
- Mississippi 1 county
- Missouri 4 counties
- Montana 44 counties
- Nebraska 10 counties
- Nevada 5 counties
- New Hampshire 9 counties
- New Jersey 13 counties
- New Mexico 6 counties
- New York 58 counties
- North Carolina 3 counties
- North Dakota 45 counties
- Ohio 16 counties
- Oregon 28 counties
- Pennsylvania 46 counties
- Rhode Island 3 counties
- South Dakota 14 counties
- Tennessee 1 county
- Utah 20 counties
- Vermont 13 counties
- Virginia 8 counties
- Washington 24 counties
- West Virginia 11 counties
- Wisconsin 36 counties
- Wyoming 15 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
- 4 ft
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- Growth form
- Bunch
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Moderate
- Active growth period
- Spring and Summer
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intermediate (sun to part shade)
- Moisture use
- Medium water use
- Drought tolerance
- Low
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- Medium
- Precipitation range
- 28 to 50 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Medium and fine
- pH range
- 4.9 to 7.5
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Medium
- Salinity tolerance
- Low
- Fertility requirement
- Medium
- Minimum root depth
- 12 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −38°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 3b and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 100
- Fire tolerance
- High
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Yellow
- Showy flowers
- No
- Bloom period
- Mid Spring
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Brown
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- Routinely Available
- Family
- Poaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- POPA2
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 palustris (PLANTS symbol POPA2).
- 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