Festuca ovina |
Festuca idahoensis |
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fétuque des ovins, sheep fescue |
blue bunchgrass, blue fescue, bluebunch fescue, Idaho fescue |
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Habit | Plants densely cespitose, without rhizomes; usually not glaucous. | Plants densely cespitose, without rhizomes. |
Culms | (10)30-50(70) cm, glabrous, smooth. |
25-85 (100) cm, usually smooth, glabrous, occasionally scabrous below the inflorescences. |
Sheaths | closed for about 1/2 their length, glabrous, smooth or scabrous distally, persistent; collars glabrous; ligules shorter than 0.3 mm; blades 0.3-0.7(1.2) mm in diameter, conduplicate, abaxial surfaces smooth or scabrous, adaxial surfaces scabrous, veins 5-7(9), ribs 1-3, indistinct; abaxial sclerenchyma usually a continuous band; adaxial sclerenchyma absent. |
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. |
Inflorescences | (2)5-10(12) cm, contracted, with 1-2(3) branches per node; branches usually erect, sometimes spreading at anthesis, lower branches with 2+ spikelets. |
(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. |
Spikelets | 4-6(7.3) mm, with 3-6(8) florets. |
(5.8) 7.5-13.5(19) mm, with (2)4-7(9) florets. |
Glumes | exceeded by the upper florets, lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, mostly smooth and glabrous, sometimes scabrous distally; lower glumes 1-2(3) mm; upper glumes (2.2)2.6-4(4.6) mm; lemmas (2.6)3-4(5) mm, ovate-lanceolate, mostly smooth, sometimes scabrous or hispid near the apices, awns 0.5-2 mm, terminal, sometimes absent; paleas about equal to the lemmas, intercostal region puberulent distally; anthers (1.4)2-2.6 mm; ovary apices glabrous. |
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. |
2n | = 14, 28. |
= 28. |
Festuca ovina |
Festuca idahoensis |
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Distribution |
CA; CT; DE; IL; KY; MA; ME; MO; NH; NJ; NY; OR; RI; SC; UT; VT; WA
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AZ; CA; CO; ID; MT; NM; NV; OR; SD; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC; SK
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Discussion | Festuca ovina was introduced from Europe as a turf grass. It is not presently used in the North American seed trade. The sporadic occurrences are mostly from old lawns and cemeteries, or sites seeded for soil stabilization. Festuca ovina used to be interpreted very broadly in North America, including almost any fine-leaved fescue that lacked rhizomes. Consequently, much of the information reported for F. ovina, and many of the specimens identified as such, belong to other species. The only confirmed recent reports are from Ontario (Dore & McNeill 1980); Piatt County, Illinois; and Okanogan County, Washington. Species in this treatment that have frequently been included in F. ovina are F. arizonica (p. 438), F. auriculata (p. 424), F. baffinensis (p. 432), F. brachyphylla (p. 428), F. brevissima (p. 426), F. calligera (p. 437), F. edlundiae (p. 432), F. frederikseniae (p. 436), F. hyperborea (p. 432), F. idahoensis (p. 438), F. lenensis (p. 426), F. minutiflora (p. 434), F. saximontana (p. 430), F. trachyphylla (p. 424), and F. viviparoidea (p. 436). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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.) |
Source | FNA vol. 24, p. 422. | FNA vol. 24, p. 438. |
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 | |
Name authority | L. | Elmer |
Web links |
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