Festuca occidentalis |
Festuca viridula |
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western fescue |
green fescue, green-leaf fescue, mountain bunch fescue, mountain bunch grass |
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Habit | Plants densely to loosely cespitose, without rhizomes. | Plants loosely or densely cespitose, without rhizomes. |
Culms | (25)40-80(110) cm, glabrous, smooth. |
35-80(100) cm, smooth, glabrous throughout; nodes usually not exposed. |
Sheaths | closed for much less than 1/2 their length, glabrous, somewhat persistent or slowly shredding into fibers; collars glabrous; ligules 0.1-0.4 mm, usually longer at the sides; blades all alike, 0.3-0.7 mm in diameter, conduplicate, abaxial surfaces smooth or scabridulous, veins (3)5, ribs 1-5; abaxial sclerenchyma in 5-7 narrow strands, about as wide as the adjacent veins; adaxial sclerenchyma absent. |
closed for less than 1/2 their length, usually glabrous, sometimes pubescent, strongly reined, persistent or slowly shredding into fibers; collars glabrous; ligules (0.2)0.3-0.8(1) mm; blades 0.5-1.3 mm in diameter when conduplicate, to 2.5 mm wide when flat, persistent, abaxial surfaces glabrous and smooth, adaxial surfaces scabrous or pubescent, veins 5-9(12), ribs 5-9, blades of the lower cauline leaves usually reduced to stiff horny points, blades of the upper cauline leaves longer and more flexuous; abaxial sclerenchyma in strands about as wide as the adjacent veins; adaxial sclerenchyma developed; pillars and girders often present. |
Inflorescences | (5)10-20 cm, open, with 1-2 branches per node; branches 1-15 cm, lax, widely spreading to reflexed, lower branches usually reflexed at maturity, with 2+ spikelets. |
(4)8-15 cm, open or somewhat contracted, with 1-2 branches per node; branches lax, spreading or loosely erect, lower branches with 2+ spikelets. |
Spikelets | 6-12 mm, with 3-6(7) florets. |
9-15 mm, with (2)3-6(7) florets. |
Glumes | exceeded by the upper florets, ovate to ovate-lanceolate, glabrous and smooth or slightly scabrous; lower glumes 2-5 mm; upper glumes 3-6 mm; lemmas (4)4.5-6.5(8) mm, ovate-lanceolate to attenuate, glabrous or finely puberulent, awns 3-12 mm, usually longer than the lemma bodies; paleas slightly shorter than the lemmas, intercostal region scabrous or puberulent distally; anthers (1)1.5-2(3) mm; ovary apices densely pubescent. |
exceeded by the upper florets, ovate-lanceolate to lanceolate, glabrous, smooth or scabridulous distally; lower glumes (2.4)2.8-5 mm, distinctly shorter than the adjacent lemmas; upper glumes 4.5-7(8.5) mm; lemmas (4.8)6-8.5 mm, lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, glabrous, smooth or slightly scabrous, apices acute, unawned or awned, awns 0.2-1.5(2) mm; paleas about as long as the lemmas, intercostal region scabrous or puberulent distally; anthers (2)2.5-4(5) mm; ovary apices densely pubescent. |
2n | = 28 [other numbers have been reported for this species, but are probably based on misidentifications]. |
= 28. |
Festuca occidentalis |
Festuca viridula |
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Distribution |
AK; CA; ID; MI; MT; OR; SD; UT; WA; WI; WY; AB; BC; ON
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CA; ID; MT; NV; OR; WA; BC
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Discussion | Festuca occidentalis grows in dry to moist, open woodlands, forest openings, and rocky slopes, up to 3100 m. It extends from southern Alaska and northern British Columbia to southwestern Alberta, south to southern California and eastward to Wyoming, and, as a disjunct, around the upper Great Lakes in Ontario, eastern Wisconsin, and Michigan. It is sometimes important as a forage grass, but is usually not sufficiently abundant. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Festuca viridula grows in low alpine and subalpine meadows, forest openings, and open forests, at (900)1500-3000 m, from southern British Columbia east to Montana and south to central California and Nevada. It is highly palatable to livestock, and is an important forage species in some areas. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 24, p. 437. | FNA vol. 24, p. 440. |
Parent taxa | Poaceae > subfam. Pooideae > tribe Poeae > Festuca > subg. Festuca > sect. Festuca | Poaceae > subfam. Pooideae > tribe Poeae > Festuca > subg. Festuca > sect. Festuca |
Sibling taxa | ||
Name authority | Hook. | Vasey |
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