Grass Genera of the World

L. Watson and M. J. Dallwitz


Festucopsis (C.E. Hubb.) Melderis

Sometimes referred to Elymus

Excluding Peridictyon

Habit, vegetative morphology. Perennial; caespitose. Culms 25–60 cm high; herbaceous; 2 noded, or 2–3 noded. Culm nodes glabrous. Young shoots intravaginal. Leaves non-auriculate. Sheath margins joined (innovation leaves), or free (culm leaves). The connate basal sheaths disintegrating into more or less discrete fibres. Leaf blades narrow; 0.4–1 mm wide; filiform or setaceous; folded, or rolled (involute); without cross venation; an unfringed membrane (but ciliolate); truncate; very short, about 0.1–0.5 mm long.

Reproductive organization. Plants bisexual, with bisexual spikelets; with hermaphrodite florets.

Inflorescence. Inflorescence rather few spikeleted (about 8–12); a single spike (5–15 cm long). Rachides hollowed (concave against the spikelets). Inflorescence espatheate; not comprising ‘partial inflorescences’ and foliar organs. Spikelet-bearing axes persistent. Spikelets solitary; not secund; sessile.

Female-fertile spikelets. Spikelets 10–25(–26) mm long; compressed laterally to not noticeably compressed; disarticulating above the glumes; disarticulating between the florets. Rachilla prolonged beyond the uppermost female-fertile floret. Hairy callus absent. Callus very short; blunt (to truncate).

Glumes two; more or less equal; shorter than the spikelets; shorter than the adjacent lemmas; free; dorsiventral to the rachis; pointed (acute); not subulate; awnless; non-carinate; similar (somewhat asymmetrical, leathery, with narrow membranous margins). Lower glume 1–3 nerved, or 3–4 nerved. Upper glume 3–5(–6) nerved. Spikelets with female-fertile florets only, or with incomplete florets. The incomplete florets distal to the female-fertile florets. Spikelets without proximal incomplete florets.

Female-fertile florets (2–)3–8(–12). Lemmas similar in texture to the glumes (leathery); not becoming indurated; entire; pointed; awnless (F. festucoides), or awned (at least the lower ones, in F. serpentini). Awns when present, 1; median; apical; non-geniculate; much shorter than the body of the lemma to about as long as the body of the lemma. Lemmas hairy (puberulent basally), or hairless; non-carinate; without a germination flap; 3–5 nerved. Palea present; conspicuous but relatively short (up to two thirds the lemma length), or very reduced; apically notched; 2-nerved; 2-keeled. Palea keels hairy (stiffly ciliate above). Lodicules present; 2; free; membranous; ciliate; not toothed; not or scarcely vascularized. Stamens 3. Anthers (1.6–)3–5.5 mm long. Ovary hairy. Styles free to their bases. Stigmas 2.

Fruit, embryo and seedling. Fruit medium sized (4–6 mm long); with hairs confined to a terminal tuft. Hilum long-linear. Embryo small. Endosperm containing only simple starch grains.

Transverse section of leaf blade, physiology. Probably C3. Mesophyll not traversed by colourless columns; without fusoids. Leaf blade with distinct, prominent adaxial ribs, or ‘nodular’ in section. Midrib with one bundle only; without colourless mesophyll adaxially. All the vascular bundles accompanied by sclerenchyma. Combined sclerenchyma girders present; forming ‘figures’ (I’s and anchors). Sclerenchyma all associated with vascular bundles.

Cytology. Chromosome base number, x = 7. 2n = 14. 2 ploid. Haplomic genome content G. Mean diploid 2c DNA value unknown, but chromosomes ‘large’.

Taxonomy. Pooideae; Triticodae; Triticeae.

Distribution, ecology, phytogeography. 2 species (F. serpentini (C.E. Hubb.) Melderis, and the poorly known F. festucoides (Maire) Löve); Albania, High Atlas of Morocco. Species of open habitats; glycophytic. Rocky or stony slopes or gullies.

Holarctic. Boreal and Tethyan. Euro-Siberian. Mediterranean. European.

References, etc. Morphological/taxonomic: Löve 1984, Seberg et al. 1991. Leaf anatomical: scanty - Seberg et al. 1991.

Special comments. Description scarcely adequate, e.g. lacking information on spikelet orientation. Anatomical data wanting.


Cite this publication as: Watson, L., and Dallwitz, M. J. (1992 onwards). ‘Grass Genera of the World: Descriptions, Illustrations, Identification, and Information Retrieval; including Synonyms, Morphology, Anatomy, Physiology, Phytochemistry, Cytology, Classification, Pathogens, World and Local Distribution, and References.’ http://biodiversity.uno.edu/delta/. Version: 18th August 1999. Dallwitz (1980), Dallwitz, Paine and Zurcher (1993 onwards, 1998), and Watson and Dallwitz (1994), and Watson, Dallwitz, and Johnston (1986) should also be cited (see References).

Index