Poa cenisia

Poa cenisia is a tufted perennial grass of the family Poaceae, native to the mountains of southern and central Europe — chiefly the Alps, Pyrenees, Carpathians and Apennines — and adjacent western Asia, where it grows on stony slopes, scree, moraines and rocky alpine and subalpine pastures, often on calcareous substrates, from approximately 1500 to 2800 m elevation. The plant forms loose tufts arising from short, slender rhizomes and produces erect, smooth culms 15–40 cm tall, usually somewhat geniculate at the base. The leaves are flat to folded, 1–3 mm wide, mostly basal, with smooth sheaths and a short, blunt membranous ligule. The inflorescence is an open, ovate to pyramidal panicle 4–10 cm long, with relatively few, slender, spreading or somewhat drooping branches bearing laterally flattened, ovate spikelets 4–7 mm long with two to five purplish or violet-tinged florets. The lemmas are five-nerved, pubescent on the keel and marginal nerves, and the rachilla typically lacks the cobwebby tuft of hairs found in many other Poa species. Flowering occurs from June to August.