Festuca viridula |
Festuca amethystina |
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green fescue, green-leaf fescue, mountain bunch fescue, mountain bunch grass |
fétuque à couleur d'améthyste, tuft fescue |
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Habit | Plants loosely or densely cespitose, without rhizomes. | Plants densely cespitose, without rhizomes. |
Culms | 35-80(100) cm, smooth, glabrous throughout; nodes usually not exposed. |
(25)50-80(105) cm, erect, glabrous and smooth throughout. |
Sheaths | closed for less than 1/2 their length, usually glabrous, sometimes pubescent, strongly reined, persistent or slowly shredding into fibers; collars glabrous; ligules (0.2)0.3-0.8(1) mm; blades 0.5-1.3 mm in diameter when conduplicate, to 2.5 mm wide when flat, persistent, abaxial surfaces glabrous and smooth, adaxial surfaces scabrous or pubescent, veins 5-9(12), ribs 5-9, blades of the lower cauline leaves usually reduced to stiff horny points, blades of the upper cauline leaves longer and more flexuous; abaxial sclerenchyma in strands about as wide as the adjacent veins; adaxial sclerenchyma developed; pillars and girders often present. |
closed for about 1/2 their length, glabrous, smooth, usually reddish blue towards the bases, persistent, flag leaf sheaths tightly enclosing the culms; collars glabrous; ligules 0.1-0.5 mm; blades 0.6-1.2(1.5) mm in diameter, conduplicate, abaxial surfaces glabrous, smooth or scabrous, adaxial surfaces scabrous, veins (5)7-9, ribs 5-9; abaxial sclerenchyma in (5)7-9 broad strands, rarely some strands confluent; adaxial sclerenchyma absent. |
Inflorescences | (4)8-15 cm, open or somewhat contracted, with 1-2 branches per node; branches lax, spreading or loosely erect, lower branches with 2+ spikelets. |
(3)8-18 (25) cm, open or loosely contracted, with 1-2(3) branches per node; branches somewhat lax, erect to spreading, lower branches with 2+ spikelets. |
Spikelets | 9-15 mm, with (2)3-6(7) florets. |
(5)6-8.5(10) mm, with (3)4-6(8) florets. |
Glumes | exceeded by the upper florets, ovate-lanceolate to lanceolate, glabrous, smooth or scabridulous distally; lower glumes (2.4)2.8-5 mm, distinctly shorter than the adjacent lemmas; upper glumes 4.5-7(8.5) mm; lemmas (4.8)6-8.5 mm, lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, glabrous, smooth or slightly scabrous, apices acute, unawned or awned, awns 0.2-1.5(2) mm; paleas about as long as the lemmas, intercostal region scabrous or puberulent distally; anthers (2)2.5-4(5) mm; ovary apices densely pubescent. |
exceeded by the upper florets, lanceolate, mostly smooth and glabrous, sometimes scabrous distally; lower glumes 2.5-4 mm; upper glumes 3-5(5.5) mm; lemmas (3.5)4-5.6(6.6) mm, usually smooth, sometimes scabrous near the apices, lanceolate, usually acute, sometimes obtuse, unawned, occasionally mucronate; paleas about as long as the lemmas, intercostal region smooth or slightly scabrous distally; anthers (2)3-4 mm; ovary apices glabrous or sparsely pubescent. |
2n | = 28. |
= 14. |
Festuca viridula |
Festuca amethystina |
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Distribution |
CA; ID; MT; NV; OR; WA; BC
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Discussion | Festuca viridula grows in low alpine and subalpine meadows, forest openings, and open forests, at (900)1500-3000 m, from southern British Columbia east to Montana and south to central California and Nevada. It is highly palatable to livestock, and is an important forage species in some areas. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Festuca amethystina is sometimes cultivated as an ornamental species; it may occasionally escape. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 24, p. 440. | FNA vol. 24, p. 422. |
Parent taxa | Poaceae > subfam. Pooideae > tribe Poeae > Festuca > subg. Festuca > sect. Festuca | Poaceae > subfam. Pooideae > tribe Poeae > Festuca > subg. Festuca > sect. Festuca |
Sibling taxa | ||
Name authority | Vasey | L. |
Web links |
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