Festuca californica
Festuca californica subsp. parishii
California fescue
30-150 (200) cm, glabrous or pubescent, sometimes scabrous.
30-80(100) cm, densely pubescent for more than 5 mm below the nodes, particularly the upper nodes.
closed for less than 1/3 their length, persistent, glabrous or pilose, smooth or scabrous, sometimes scabrous or pilose only distally or on the distal margins;
collars usually densely pubescent or with a few hairs at the margins, sometimes glabrous;
ligules 0.2-5 mm, usually ciliate, abaxial surfaces puberulent;
blades 1-6.5 mm wide, conduplicate, convolute, or flat, 0.5-2(2.5) mm in diameter when convolute, deciduous, abaxial surfaces scabrous or smooth, glabrous or the bases pubescent, adaxial surfaces puberulent to pubescent, veins 9-15(17), ribs (3)5-15(17);
abaxial sclerenchyma forming more or less continuous bands, sometimes reduced to small strands;
adaxial sclerenchyma sometimes present;
girders or pillars present at most veins.
densely retrorsely pubescent;
collars usually densely pubescent, at least at the margins;
ligules (0.2)0.5-1.5(2) mm, ciliate;
blades 10-30 cm long, 1-3 mm wide, 0.5-1.2(1.5) mm in diameter when conduplicate, abaxial surfaces glabrous or pubescent proximally, adaxial surfaces pubescent, ribs (3)5-9, to about 1/2 as deep as the blade thickness;
abaxial sclerenchyma in small strands or forming continuous bands;
adaxial sclerenchyma sometimes present;
girders not developed;
pillars rarely formed.
10-25(30) cm, open, with (1)2(4) branches per node;
branches spreading and lax.
10-20 cm.
8-18(20) mm, borne towards the ends of the branches, with 3-6(8) florets.
11-16 mm, with 3-4(5) florets.
lanceolate, glabrous or sparsely scabrous at the apices;
lower glumes (4)4.5-6.7(8) mm;
upper glumes (5)6-10 mm;
lemmas (7)7.5-11 mm, lanceolate, scabrous, puberulent, sometimes minutely bidentate, acute, usually awned, rarely unawned, awns (1)2-3(4) mm;
paleas shorter than to longer than the lemmas, pubescent or glabrous on the margins, intercostal region usually puberulent distally;
anthers (3)4-7.5(8.5) mm;
ovary apices densely pubescent.
usually minutely bidentate, sometimes entire.
= 56.
= unknown.
Festuca californica
Festuca californica subsp. parishii
Festuca californica grows on dry, open slopes and moist streambanks in thickets and open woods, from sea level to 2000 m. Its range extends from Clackamas County, Oregon, to the Sierra Nevada and southern California; it is not known to extend into Mexico. It is the largest species of Festuca in the Flora region.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Festuca californica subsp. parishii grows in southern California, in the San Bernardino, San Gabriel, and Palomar mountains. Its leaf blades tend to be narrower and shorter than in subsp. californica (10-30 cm long versus more than 30 cm long), and the sclerenchyma is less developed, with pillars only sometimes present and girders absent. The lower leaf sheaths are densely retrorsely pubescent.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Culms 30-80(100) cm tall, usually pubescent for more than 5 mm below the nodes; lower sheaths densely retrorsely pubescent; vegetative shoot blades with (3)5-9 ribs, the ribs to about 1/2 as deep as the blade thickness; abaxial sclerenchyma in small strands or forming continuous bands; adaxial sclerenchyma strands present or absent; sclerenchyma pillars rarely formed; girders not developed; spikelets with 3-4(5) florets | subsp. parishii |
1. Culms 60-150(200) cm tall, glabrous or pubescent for less than 5 mm below the nodes; lower sheaths glabrous or pubescent, if pubescent then usually not densely retrorsely hairy; vegetative shoot blades with 7-15(17) ribs, the ribs usually more than 1/2 as deep as the blade thickness; abaxial sclerenchyma forming a continuous band; adaxial sclerenchyma in strands; sclerenchyma pillars or girders usually associated with most of the veins; spikelets with (3)4-6(8) florets. | → 2 |
2. Ligules 0.2-1(1.2) mm long, ciliate; spikelets (8)13-18(20) mm long | subsp. californica |
2. Ligules (1)1.5-5 mm long, ciliate or not; spikelets 8-12(17) mm long | subsp. hitchcockiana |
CA
OR
Flora NW
PNW Herbaria
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
