Festuca saximontana
Festuca hallii
fétuque des montagnes rocheuses, fétuque des rocheuses, mountain fescue, Rocky Mountain fescue
plains rough fescue
(5)8-50(60) cm, usually smooth and glabrous, occasionally sparsely scabrous or puberulent below the inflorescence.
(16)25-65(85) cm, glabrous, smooth or scabrous near the inflorescence;
nodes usually not exposed.
closed for about 1/2 their length, glabrous, smooth or scabrous, usually persistent, rarely slowly shredding into fibers;
collars glabrous;
ligules 0.1-0.5 mm;
blades 0.5-1.2 mm in diameter, conduplicate, abaxial surfaces glabrous or sparsely puberulent, adaxial surfaces scabrous or puberulent, veins 5-7(9), ribs 1-5;
abaxial sclerenchyma in 3-7 strands, sometimes partly confluent or forming a continuous band, usually more than twice as wide as high;
adaxial sclerenchyma absent;
flag leaf blades 0.5-4 cm.
closed for less than 1/3 their length, glabrous, smooth or scabrous, persistent;
collars glabrous;
ligules 0.3-0.6 mm;
blades usually conduplicate and 0.5-1.2 mm in diameter, rarely flat and 1-2.5 mm wide, gray-green, deciduous, abaxial surfaces scabrous, adaxial surfaces scabrous or puberulent, veins (5)7-9, ribs 5-7, conspicuous;
abaxial sclerenchyma usually forming continuous or interrupted bands;
adaxial sclerenchyma present;
girders developed at the 3(5) major veins;
pillars developed at most other veins.
(2)3-10(13) cm, contracted, with 1-2 branches per node;
branches usually erect, spreading at anthesis, lower branches with 2+ spikelets.
6-16 cm, usually more or less contracted, open at anthesis, with 1-2(3) branches per node;
branches erect or stiffly spreading, spikelets borne towards the ends of the branches.
(3)4.5-8.8(10) mm, with (2)3-5(7) florets.
(6.5)7-9.5 mm, with 2-3(4) florets.
exceeded by the upper florets, ovate-lanceolate to lanceolate, scabrous distally;
lower glumes 1.5-3.5 mm;
upper glumes 2.5-4.8 mm;
lemmas (3)3.4-4(5.6) mm, mostly smooth, often scabrous distally, awns (0.4) 1-2(2.5) mm;
paleas as long as or slightly shorter than the lemmas, intercostal region puberulent distally;
anthers (0.8)1.2-1.7(2) mm;
ovary apices glabrous.
about equaling or slightly exceeding the upper florets;
lower glumes 5-8(9.5) mm, about equaling or slightly longer than the adjacent lemmas;
upper glumes 6.2-8.5(9.5) mm;
lemmas 5.5-8(9) mm, chartaceous to somewhat coriaceous, scabrous, rounded below midlength, veins somewhat obscure, apices unawned or awned, awns 0.5-1.3 mm;
paleas somewhat shorter than the lemmas, intercostal region puberulent distally;
anthers 4-6 mm;
ovary apices sparsely pubescent.
= 42.
= 28.
Festuca saximontana
Festuca hallii
Festuca saximontana grows in grasslands, meadows, open forests, and sand dune complexes of the northern plains and boreal, montane, and subalpine regions in the Flora region, extending from Alaska to Greenland, south to southern California, northern Arizona, and New Mexico in the west and to the Great Lakes region in the east. It is also reported from the Russian Far East. Festuca saximontana provides good forage for livestock and wildlife. It is closely related to F. brachyphylla (see previous), and is sometimes included in that species as F. brachyphylla subsp. saximontana (Rydb.) Hulten. It has also frequently been included in F. ovina (p. 422).
The populations which grow in sandy areas around the upper Great Lakes have been named Festuca canadensis E.B. Alexeev; given the great variation in the species, there seems to be little justification for this. Three weakly differentiated taxa have been recognized at the varietal level in North America.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Festuca hallii is a major component of grasslands in the northern Great Plains and the grassland-boreal forest transition zone, where it is an important source of forage. Its range extends from the Rocky Mountains of Canada east to western Ontario and south to Colorado. At the southern end of its range in Colorado, it grows in alpine meadows.
Festuca hallii differs from F. campestris (see next) in usually having short rhizomes, stiffly erect panicles, and smaller spikelets. Where the two species are sympatric, as in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, F. hallii is usually found at lower elevations.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Culms 25-50(60) cm tall, usually 3-5 times the height of the vegetative shoot leaves; abaxial surfaces of the blades usually scabrous; abaxial sclerenchyma in 3-5 strands, sometimes partly confluent or forming a continuous band; plants of lowland, montane, or boreal habitats | var. saximontana |
1. Culms (5)8-37 cm tall, usually 2-3 times the height of the vegetative shoot leaves; abaxial surfaces of the blades smooth or scabrous; abaxial sclerenchyma in 5-7 narrow strands; plants of subalpine or lower alpine habitats. | → 2 |
2. Culms (5)8-20(25) cm tall, usually glabrous below the inflorescence; outer vegetative shoot sheaths mostly stramineous; blades with hairs shorter than 0.06 mm on the ribs; lemmas usually scabrous towards the apices and often along the margins | var. purpusiana |
2. Culms 16-37 cm tall, usually sparsely scabrous or pubescent below the inflorescence; outer vegetative shoot sheaths brownish on the lower 1/2; blades with hairs to 0.1 mm on the ribs; lemmas often scabrous on the distal 1/2 | var. robertsiana |
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