Festuca idahoensis
Festuca dasyclada
blue bunchgrass, blue fescue, bluebunch fescue, Idaho fescue
intermountain fescue, oil shale fescue, open fescue
25-85 (100) cm, usually smooth, glabrous, occasionally scabrous below the inflorescences.
20-40(50) cm, erect or somewhat geniculate at the base, densely scabrous or pubescent below the inflorescence;
nodes usually not exposed, culms often breaking at the upper nodes at maturity.
closed for less than 1/2 their length, smooth or scabrous, rarely pilose, persistent;
collars glabrous;
ligules 0.2-0.6 mm;
blades (0.3)0.5-0.9(1.5) mm in diameter, conduplicate, abaxial surfaces smooth or scabrous, adaxial surfaces scabrous or pubescent, rarely pilose, often glaucous or bluish, veins (3)5(7), ribs (1)3-5, well defined;
abaxial sclerenchyma in 5-7 wide, irregular strands;
adaxial sclerenchyma absent.
closed for less than 1/2 their length, glabrous, persistent or slowly shredding into fibers;
collars glabrous;
ligules 0.2-0.5 mm;
blades (1)1.2-2.5(3) mm wide, persistent, loosely conduplicate, convolute, or flat, abaxial surfaces glabrous, adaxial surfaces with stiff hairs, veins 7-13, ribs (6)7-13;
abaxial sclerenchyma in strands opposite most of the veins, about as wide as the veins;
adaxial sclerenchyma often present;
pillars or girders sometimes present at the major veins.
(5)7-15(20) cm, loosely contracted or open, with 1-2 branches per node;
branches usually somewhat spreading at maturity, sometimes erect, rarely reflexed, lower branches with 2+ spikelets.
6-12 cm, open, with 2-4 branches per node;
branches stiffly divaricate, densely scabrous-ciliate on the angles, lower branches with 2+ spikelets;
pedicels stiffly hairy.
(5.8) 7.5-13.5(19) mm, with (2)4-7(9) florets.
5.5-8 mm, with 2(3) florets.
exceeded by the upper florets, ovate-lanceolate to lanceolate, mostly smooth, sometimes scabrous distally;
lower glumes 2.4-5(6) mm;
upper glumes 3-6(8) mm;
lemmas 5-8.5(10) mm, scabrous at the apices, awns (1.5)3-6(7) mm, usually more than 1/2 as long as the lemma bodies;
paleas shorter than to about as long as the lemmas, intercostal region scabrous or puberulent distally;
anthers 2.4-4.5 mm;
ovary apices glabrous.
exceeded by the upper florets, lanceolate-acuminate, sparsely scabrous to puberulent;
lower glumes 3.5-5 mm, distinctly shorter than the adjacent lemmas;
upper glumes 5-7 mm;
lemmas 5-7 mm, chartaceous, scabrous or puberulent, minutely bidentate, awned, awns 1.5-3 mm, subterminal;
paleas about as long as or slightly longer than the lemmas, intercostal region scabrous or puberulent distally;
anthers 1.5-2.5 mm;
ovary apices pubescent.
= 28.
= 28.
Festuca idahoensis
Festuca dasyclada
Festuca idahoensis grows in grasslands, open forests, and sagebrush meadow communities, mostly east of the Cascade Mountains, from southern British Columbia eastward to southwestern Saskatchewan and southward to central California and New Mexico. It extends up to 3000 m in the southern part of its range. It is often a dominant plant, and provides good forage. The young foliage is particularly palatable.
Festuca idahoensis differs from F. arizonica (see previous), with which it is sometimes confused, in its less prominently ribbed blades and glabrous ovary apices. It has frequently been included in F. ovina (p. 422).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Festuca dasyclada grows on rocky slopes in open forests and shrublands of western Colorado and central and southern Utah. For many years it was known only from the type collection. When the seeds are mature, the panicles break off the culms and are blown over the ground like a tumbleweed, shedding seeds as they travel. This and other unusual features, such as the divaricate branching pattern and hairy pedicels, prompted WA. Weber to place it in the monotypic genus Argillochloa WA. Weber.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
- Local floras:
BC, 
CA, 
OR, 
WA - Local Web sites: CalFlora, CalPhotos,
Flora NW, 
PNW Herbaria 
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist (observations)
USDA Plants Database- LBJ Wildflower Center
- SEINet
- Plants of the World Online
- Encyclopedia of Life
- Wikipedia
- Google Image Search
