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Texas fescue

Habit Plants loosely cespitose, without rhizomes. Plants loosely cespitose, without rhizomes.
Culms

50-100 cm, glabrous, somewhat glaucous;

nodes usually exposed.

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.

Blades

flat or convolute;

ribs shallow, indistinct;

sclerenchyma girders present at 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.

Spikelets

6-11 mm, sometimes glaucous, with (2)3-5 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.

Innovations

extravaginal, with or without basal cataphylls.

Calluses

wider than long;

lemmas chartaceous, lanceolate to attenuate, entire, unawned;

ovary apices densely pubescent.

2n

= unknown.

Festuca versuta

Festuca subg. Montanae

Distribution
from FNA
AR; KS; OK; TN; TX
[BONAP county map]
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 subg. Montanae contains approximately 20-25 species. It has been divided into seven sections that are widely distributed on all continents except Africa and Antarctica. One monospecific section occurs in North America.

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

Source FNA vol. 24, p. 400. FNA vol. 24, p. 399.
Parent taxa Poaceae > subfam. Pooideae > tribe Poeae > Festuca > subg. Montanae > sect. Texanae Poaceae > subfam. Pooideae > tribe Poeae > 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. roemeri, F. rubra, F. saximontana, F. sororia, F. subulata, F. subuliflora, F. subverticillata, F. thurberi, F. trachyphylla, F. valesiaca, F. viridula, F. viviparoidea, F. washingtonica
Subordinate taxa
Name authority Beal (Hack.) Nyman
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