Festuca versuta

Beal
Common names: Texas fescue
Endemic
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 24. Treatment on page 400.
Please click on the illustration for a higher resolution version.
Illustrator: Cindy Roché

Copyright: Utah State University

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. 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. 2n = unknown.

Distribution

Kans., Tenn., Ark., Okla., Tex.

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.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.

"wider than long" is not a number."decumbent" is not a number."longest" is not a number.

... more about "Festuca versuta"
puberulent +, glabrous +, scabrous +  and smooth +
membranous +  and scarious +
puberulent +  and hirsute +
0.2 cm2 mm <br />0.002 m <br /> (0.3 cm3 mm <br />0.003 m <br />) +
hispidulous +
mucronate +, acute +  and acuminate +
Stephen J. Darbyshire +  and Leon E. Pavlickf +
1 (?) +  and 3 (?) +
straight +
basal +  and terminal +
keeled +  and rounded +
pseudopetiolate +  and branching +
intravaginal +, extravaginal +, branching +  and basal +
keeled +  and rounded +
swelling +
not deciduous +  and deciduous +
not evident +
convolute +  and flat +
0.2 cm2 mm <br />0.002 m <br /> (1 cm10 mm <br />0.01 m <br />) +
spikelike +
pubescent +  and glabrous +
Texas fescue +
not branching +
ascending +  and erect +
glaucous +  and glabrous +
50 cm500 mm <br />0.5 m <br /> (100 cm1,000 mm <br />1 m <br />) +
not woody +
Kans. +, Tenn. +, Ark. +, Okla. +  and Tex. +
1/4 +  and 1/3 +
liquid +, soft +  and hard +
capillary +
pistillate +  and staminate +
sometimes longer +
3 +  and 5 +
compressed +
reduced +
shorter or longer +
subtending +
acuminate +  and lanceolate +
unequal +  and subequal +
persisting +
uncinate +
10 cm100 mm <br />0.1 m <br /> (30 cm300 mm <br />0.3 m <br />) +
1-7(9)-veined +
lanceolate +
0.5 cm5 mm <br />0.005 m <br /> (0.8 cm8 mm <br />0.008 m <br />) +
coriaceous +
0.05 cm0.5 mm <br />5.0e-4 m <br /> (0.1 cm1 mm <br />0.001 m <br />) +
membranous +
inconspicuous +
lanceolate +
0.4 cm4 mm <br />0.004 m <br /> (0.7 cm7 mm <br />0.007 m <br />) +
2 +  and 1 +
with hispidulous apices +  and glabrous +
well-developed +
2-keeled +
spikelike +
dry +  and fleshy +
glabrous +, pubescent +  and scabrous +
1 +  and 60 +
compressed +
0.6 cm6 mm <br />0.006 m <br /> (1.1 cm11 mm <br />0.011 m <br />) +
1 +  and 3 +
simple +  and compound +
2 (?) +  and 3 (?) +
Gramineae +
Festuca versuta +
Festuca sect. Texanae +
species +
membranous +
0.5 cm5 mm <br />0.005 m <br /> (0.75 cm7.5 mm <br />0.0075 m <br />) +
parallel +  and converging +
obscure +  and prominent +
13 (?) +  and 35 (?) +
stoloniferous +  and rhizomatous +
plant +  and cespitose +
aquatic +  and terrestrial +