We thank Dr D.H.J. Colless (CSIRO) for use of the NSIM and PCLASS programs. Special thanks are due to Prof. Shenlian Lu for her manuscript on Festuca of China. Sincere thanks go to Dr Haining Qing and Mr Zhongtao Wang at PE, Dr Hua Peng at KUN and Prof. Qianhai Chen at HGAS for the loan of Chinese Festuca collections. We also thank the Canadian Museum of Nature (CMN), Agriculture Canada, and Institute of Biology of Guizhou Academy of Sciences. Dr R. Soreng at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC, Dr Wenli Chen and Jingrong Chen at PE and Dr Chaodong Zhu at Institute of Zoology, China Academy of Sciences are thanked for helping us with this project. We are grateful to Dr M. Graham, Dr Xiaochun Wu, and the Research Division of the CMN. Mike Wayne and Anne M. Barter are thanked for extensive help in obtaining original descriptions for sometimes-obscure sources. We thank Dr Sylvia Phillips at KEW for her coordination. This project is a Chinese and Canadian contribution to the Flora of China Program. The financial support of the China Scholarship Council (CSC) (No. 20952006) is gratefully acknowledged.