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Oregon fescue, Roemer's fescue

Habit Plants densely cespitose, without rhizomes.
Culms

(35)50-90 (100) cm, erect, glabrous, smooth.

Sheaths

closed for less than 1/2 their length, glabrous, hirsute, or scabrous, persistent;

collars glabrous;

ligules 0.1-0.5 mm;

blades 0.5-1(1.2) mm in diameter, conduplicate, abaxial surfaces glabrous or puberulent, adaxial surfaces sometimes scabrous, glabrous or pubescent, veins (5)7-9, ribs 5-9, well defined;

abaxial sclerenchyma in 5-7 wide strands, sometimes confluent into a single band;

adaxial sclerenchyma absent.

Inflorescences

(7)8-20(25) cm, loosely to densely contracted, with 1-2 branches per node;

branches erect to slightly spreading, lower branches with 2+ spikelets.

Spikelets

9-13.5 mm, with 4-6 florets.

Glumes

exceeded by the upper florets, ovate-lanceolate, smooth or scabrous distally;

lower glumes (2)2.5-5 mm;

upper glumes 4-6.2 mm;

lemmas 5-7(8.2) mm, scabrous near the apices, awns (2)3-5 mm, terminal, usually more than 1/2 as long as the lemma bodies;

paleas about as long as the lemmas, intercostal region scabrous or puberulent distally;

anthers (2.6)2.8-3.6(4) mm;

ovary apices glabrous.

2n

= unknown.

Festuca roemeri

Distribution
from USDA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Festuca roemeri grows in grasslands and open forests, primarily west of the Cascade Mountains, from southeastern Vancouver Island southward to northwestern California.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 24, p. 440.
Parent taxa Poaceae > subfam. Pooideae > tribe Poeae > Festuca > subg. Festuca > sect. Festuca
Sibling taxa
F. altaica, F. amethystina, F. arizonica, F. auriculata, F. baffinensis, F. brachyphylla, F. brevissima, F. californica, F. calligera, F. campestris, F. dasyclada, F. earlei, F. edlundiae, F. elmeri, F. filiformis, F. frederikseniae, F. glauca, F. groenlandica, F. hallii, F. heterophylla, F. hyperborea, F. idahoensis, F. lenensis, F. ligulata, F. minutiflora, F. occidentalis, F. ovina, F. paradoxa, F. prolifera, F. pseudovivipara, F. rubra, F. saximontana, F. sororia, F. subulata, F. subuliflora, F. subverticillata, F. thurberi, F. trachyphylla, F. valesiaca, F. versuta, F. viridula, F. viviparoidea, F. washingtonica
Synonyms F. idahoensis var. roemeri
Name authority (Pavlick) E.B. Alexeev
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