Festuca idahoensis
Festuca minutiflora
blue bunchgrass, blue fescue, bluebunch fescue, Idaho fescue
little fescue, small-flower fescue
25-85 (100) cm, usually smooth, glabrous, occasionally scabrous below the inflorescences.
4-30 cm, usually erect, sometimes semi-prostrate, glabrous, smooth.
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 1/2 their length, glabrous, persistent;
collars glabrous;
ligules 0.1-0.3 mm;
blades (0.2)0.3-0.4(0.6) mm in diameter, conduplicate, lax, abaxial surfaces glabrous, adaxial surfaces sparsely scabrous to puberulent, veins 3-5, ribs 1-3;
abaxial sclerenchyma in 3-5 small strands, less than twice as wide as high;
adaxial sclerenchyma absent.
(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.
1-4(5) cm, contracted, with 1-2 branches per node;
branches erect, lower branches with 2+ spikelets.
(5.8) 7.5-13.5(19) mm, with (2)4-7(9) florets.
(2.5)3-5 mm, with (1)2-3(5) 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, ovate to ovate-lanceolate, sparsely scabrous distally;
lower glumes 1.3-2.5 mm;
upper glumes 2-3.5 mm;
lemmas (2)2.2-3.5(4) mm, ovate-lanceolate, sparsely scabrous near the apices, apices abruptly acuminate, awns 0.5-1.5(1.7) mm;
paleas about as long as or slightly shorter than the lemmas, intercostal region scabrous distally;
anthers (0.4)0.6-1.2 mm;
ovary apices usually with a few hairs, rarely glabrous.
leaf blades 0.7-3.5 cm.
= 28.
= 28.
Festuca idahoensis
Festuca minutiflora
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 minutiflora grows in alpine regions of the western mountains, from southeastern Alaska and the southwestern Yukon Territory to Arizona, New Mexico, and the Sierra Nevada of California. It has often been overlooked or included with F. brachyphylla (p. 428), from which it differs in its laxer and narrower leaves, looser panicles, smaller spikelets, more pointed lemmas, shorter awns, and scattered hairs on the ovary. In the southern Rocky Mountains, it may grow with F. earlei (p. 420), which has short rhizomes and larger spikelets and lemmas. Festuca minutiflora has frequently been included in F. ovina (p. 422).
(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
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USDA Plants Database- LBJ Wildflower Center
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