Festuca idahoensis |
Festuca heterophylla |
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blue bunchgrass, blue fescue, bluebunch fescue, Idaho fescue |
fétuque hétérophylle, various-leaf fescue |
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Habit | Plants densely cespitose, without rhizomes. | Plants densely to loosely cespitose, without rhizomes. |
Culms | 25-85 (100) cm, usually smooth, glabrous, occasionally scabrous below the inflorescences. |
60-120(150) cm, glabrous, smooth. |
Sheaths | 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 about 3/4 their length, slowly shredding into fibers; collars glabrous; ligules 0.1-0.3 mm; blades varying within a plant, blades of the vegetative shoots to 60 cm long, (0.2)0.3-0.6 mm in diameter, conduplicate, veins 3-5(7), ribs 1(3), abaxial surfaces smooth or sparsely scabrous, adaxial surfaces scabrous, cauline blades to 25 cm long, 2-4 mm wide, flat; abaxial sclerenchyma of the vegetative shoot blades in 3-5 small strands less than twice as wide as high, of the upper cauline blades in 7-11 small strands; adaxial sclerenchyma absent. |
Inflorescences | (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. |
6-18 cm, open or contracted, somewhat secund, with 1-2 branches per node; branches more or less erect, scabrous, lower branches with 2+ spikelets. |
Spikelets | (5.8) 7.5-13.5(19) mm, with (2)4-7(9) florets. |
7-14 mm, with (2)3-6(9) florets. |
Glumes | 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; ovate-lanceolate to lanceolate, mostly smooth or scabrous on the upper midvein; lower glumes 3-5.5 mm; upper glumes 4-6.5(7) mm; lemmas (4.7)5-8.5 mm, lanceolate, mostly smooth, sometimes scabrous near the apices, awns 1.5-6 mm; paleas as long as the lemmas, intercostal region smooth or scabrous distally; anthers 2.5-4.5 mm; ovary apices pubescent. |
2n | = 28. |
= 28. |
Festuca idahoensis |
Festuca heterophylla |
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Distribution |
AZ; CA; CO; ID; MT; NM; NV; OR; SD; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC; SK
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CT; NY; VA |
Discussion | 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 heterophylla is native to open forests and forest edges in Europe and western Asia. In the Flora region, it used to be planted as a turf grass for shady areas, and sometimes persists in old lawns. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 24, p. 438. | FNA vol. 24, p. 420. |
Parent taxa | Poaceae > subfam. Pooideae > tribe Poeae > Festuca > subg. Festuca > sect. Festuca | Poaceae > subfam. Pooideae > tribe Poeae > Festuca > subg. Festuca > sect. Festuca |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | F. idahoensis var. oregona | F. rubra var. heterophylla |
Name authority | Elmer | Lam. |
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