Festuca versuta |
Festuca paradoxa |
|
---|---|---|
Texas fescue |
cluster fescue |
|
Habit | Plants loosely cespitose, without rhizomes. | Plants loosely cespitose, without rhizomes. |
Culms | 50-100 cm, glabrous, somewhat glaucous; nodes usually exposed. |
50-120 cm, glabrous. |
Sheaths | closed for less than 1/3 their length, glabrous or sparsely pubescent, shredding into fibers; ligules 0.5-1 mm; blades 2-10 mm wide, flat, loosely conduplicate, or involute, abaxial surfaces smooth or scabrous, glabrous or puberulent, adaxial surfaces smooth or scabrous, veins 13-35, ribs obscure; sclerenchyma in abaxial and adaxial strands; girders formed at most major veins. |
closed for less than 1/3 their length, glabrous, shredding into fibers; Iigules (0.2)0.5-1.5 mm; blades 2-8 mm wide, flat or loosely convolute, smooth or scabrous, veins 9-35, ribs obscure; abaxial sclerenchyma in narrow strands; adaxial sclerenchyma developed; girders or pillars usually associated with the major veins. |
Inflorescences | (8)10-30(40) cm, open, with 1-2 branches per node; branches lax, spreading, spikelets borne towards the ends of branches. |
(5)10-20 cm, open, with 1-2 branches per node; branches lax, ascending to spreading, spikelets clustered towards the ends of the branches, closely imbricate. |
Spikelets | 6-11 mm, sometimes glaucous, with (2)3-5 florets. |
4-7(7.5) mm, elliptic to obovate, with 3-5(8) florets. |
Glumes | lanceolate, smooth or scabrous, acuminate; lower glumes 4-7 mm; upper glumes 5-7.5 mm; lemmas 5-8 mm, chartaceous, lanceolate, glabrous, usually smooth, sometimes scabrous towards the apices, apices acute to acuminate, unawned, sometimes mucronate; paleas as long as or slightly shorter than the lemmas, intercostal region puberulent distally; anthers 2-3 mm; ovary apices densely pubescent. |
lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, scabrous at least on the veins; lower glumes (2.5)3-4(5) mm, usually almost as long as the adjacent lemmas; upper glumes (3.5)4-5(5.5) mm; lemmas 4-5(5.2) mm, stiffly chartaceous, ovate to obovate, glabrous, somewhat acute, unawned; paleas as long as or slightly shorter than the lemmas, intercostal region smooth or scabrous distally; anthers (0.7)1-2(2.5) mm; ovary apices pubescent. |
2n | = unknown. |
= unknown. |
Festuca versuta |
Festuca paradoxa |
|
Distribution |
AR; KS; OK; TN; TX |
AL; AR; DE; GA; IA; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MD; MN; MO; MS; NC; NE; OK; PA; SC; TN; TX; VA; WI; ON; QC
|
Discussion | Festuca versuta grows in moist, shaded sites on rocky slopes in open woods, from Oklahoma and Arkansas to Texas. It is an uncommon species. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Festuca paradoxa grows in prairies, open woods, thickets, and low open ground, from Wisconsin to Pennsylvania, south to northeastern Texas and northern Georgia. It resembles F. subverticillata (see previous), but its spikelets are more crowded on the branches. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 24, p. 400. | FNA vol. 24, p. 402. |
Parent taxa | Poaceae > subfam. Pooideae > tribe Poeae > Festuca > subg. Montanae > sect. Texanae | Poaceae > subfam. Pooideae > tribe Poeae > Festuca |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | F. shortii | |
Name authority | Beal | Desv. |
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