Festuca altaica
Festuca filiformis
Altai fescue, fétuque d'Altai, northern rough fescue, rough fescue
fetuque chevelue, fine-leaf sheep fescue, hair fescue
(25)30-90(120) cm, glabrous or slightly scabrous;
nodes usually not exposed.
18-40(60) cm, mostly scabrous or puberulent below the inflorescence.
closed for less than 1/3 their length, glabrous or scabrous, persistent, not shredding into fibers;
collars glabrous;
ligules 0.2-0.6 (1) mm;
blades deciduous, 2-4 mm wide, convolute, conduplicate, sometimes flat, 1-2.5 mm in diameter when conduplicate, yellow-green to dark green, abaxial surfaces scabrous, adaxial surfaces glabrous or pubescent, smooth or scabrous, veins 7-15(17), ribs 5-9;
abaxial sclerenchyma in strands about as wide as the adjacent veins;
adaxial sclerenchyma present;
girders associated with the major veins.
closed for less than 1/3 their length, smooth or scabrous, glabrous or finely puberulent, persistent;
collars glabrous;
ligules 0.1-0.4 mm;
blades 0.2-0.4(0.6) mm in diameter, conduplicate, abaxial surfaces smooth, adaxial surfaces scabrous, veins 5(7), ribs 1, distinct;
abaxial sclerenchyma forming a continuous or almost continuous band;
adaxial sclerenchyma absent.
5-16 cm, open, often secund, with 1-2(3) branches per node;
branches lax, spreading, lower branches usually recurved or reflexed, spikelets borne towards the ends of the branches.
1-6(14) cm, usually contracted, with 1-2 branches per node;
branches usually erect, lower branches with 2+ spikelets.
8-14 mm, usually purple, lustrous, with 3-4(6) florets.
3-6(6.5) mm, with 2-6(8) florets.
glabrous or slightly scabrous, distinctly shorter than the adjacent lemmas;
lower glumes 4-6.8(8.5) mm;
upper glumes (4.5)5.3-7.5(10) mm;
lemmas (6.5)7.5-9(12) mm, chartaceous, scabrous, at least on the veins, keeled on the lo'ver 1/2, veins 5, prominent, apices attenuate or short-awned, awns 0.2-0.7 mm;
paleas about as long as or a little shorter than the lemmas, intercostal region puberulent distally;
anthers 2.6-4.5(5) mm;
ovary apices usually sparsely pubescent, rarely glabrous.
exceeded by the upper florets, ovate-lanceolate to lanceolate, glabrous;
lower glumes 1-2.5 mm;
upper glumes (1.7)2-3(3.9) mm;
lemmas 2.3-4(4.4) mm, obtuse to acute, mostly smooth and glabrous, sometimes scabrous or pubescent distally, unawned, sometimes mucronate, mucros to 0.4 mm;
paleas about as long as the lemmas, intercostal region smooth or scabrous distally;
anthers (1)1.5-2.2 mm;
ovary apices glabrous.
= 28.
= 14 (28).
Festuca altaica
Festuca filiformis
Festuca altaica is a plant of rocky alpine habitats, arctic tundra, and open boreal or subalpine forests. Its primary distribution extends from Alaska eastward to the western Northwest Territories, and south in the alpine regions of British Columbia and west-central Alberta. Disjunct populations occur in Quebec, western Labrador and Newfoundland, and in Michigan, where it may be introduced. From the Bering Sea it extends westward to the Altai Mountains of central Asia.
The spikelets of Festuca altaica are lustrous and usually intensely purplish; plants with greenish spikelets have been named F. altaica f. pallida Jordal. A form producing pseudoviviparous spikelets, F. altaica f. vivipara Jordal, has been described from Alaska.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Festuca filiformis is a European species that has been introduced to the Flora region as a turf grass. It grows well on poor, dry soils and is becoming a ruderal weed in some areas. It is particularly common in the northeastern United States and southeastern Canada, but has been reported from scattered locations elsewhere.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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IL Wildflowers
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