Festuca altaica Trin. In Ledebour, Fl. Altaica 1: 109–110. 1829.
°¢¶ÛÌ©Ñòé A ER TAI YANG MAO.
F. altaica subsp.eu-altaica var. genuina subvar. typica St.-Yves. Candollea 2: 270. 1925; F. scabrella Torrey in Hook., Fl. Bor. Am. 2: 252, tab. 233. 1840; F. altaica subsp. scabrella (Torrey) Hultén, Fl. Alaska and Yukon 1: 241. 1942; F. altaica var. scabrella (Torrey) Breitung, Am. Midl. Natl. 58: 12. 1957. Type: Central Asia, Russia, Altai Mountains, "in summa alpe ad fontem fl. Acjulac rarissima", (translation: "Very rare on mountain summit at source of Acjulac River") C.B. Trinius s.n. Holotype and three possible isotypes LE (Tzvelev 1976). (see image library. Subg. Leucopoa (Griseb.) Tzvel., sect. Breviaristatae Krivot.
Vegetative morphology. Plants yellowish green, or deep green. Plants stiffly erect. Plants densely tufted, or pluricespitose. Plants clumped very tightly. Plants with non-flowering shoots more common than flowering shoots (based on field observations). Plants with leaves mostly basal. Plants with tillering leaves over half the length of the culms. Plants with bases purplish, or not purplish. Plants with shoots intravaginal (usually), or extravaginal. Rhizomes present, or absent. Culms (25–)30–90(–120) cm tall. Culms 1–1.7 mm wide. Culms strict, erect. Culms internodes glabrous, or scabrous (minutely scaberulous: this caharacter is variable even on the same plant). Culms internodes ridged or striped. Butt sheaths present. Butt sheaths persistent and investing base of culms. Butt sheaths with compacted dead sheaths. Sheaths longer than the internode. Sheaths glabrous. Sheaths open more than half their length. Sheaths conspicuous at the base of the plant, persisting for more than 1 year. Sheaths remaining entire, not conspicuously splitting between the veins. Collars glabrous. Auricles erect swellings, or absent. Auricular cilia present (similar to the fringe on the ligule), or absent. Auricular cilia short and scabrous-like (unlike cilia in Subg. Schedonardus). Ligules 0.1–0.6 mm long. Ligules glabrous. Ligules membranous. Ligules margins ciliate. Ligules apices erose, or lacerate (shorter in the middle). Leaf blades erect, stiffish. Leaf blades linear (usually), or lanceolate. Leaf blades flat (occasionally), or involute. Leaf blades adaxial lateral longitudinal ridges distinctly raised. Leaf blades (4–)10–30(–45) cm long. Leaf blades 2–4 mm wide. Leaf blades adaxial surfaces with trichomes. Leaf blades abaxial surfaces with trichomes. Leaf blades abaxial surfaces pubescent, or scabrous. Leaf blades margins scaberulous. Flag leaves blades (2–)3–5(–8) cm long. Flag leaves blades distinctly longer than the sheath. Leaf blades 0.5–1(–1.4) mm wide (when firmly rolled). Leaf blades 0.65–0.9 mm deep. Veins 5–17. Adaxial to abaxial sclerenchyma strands present. Abaxial sclerenchyma poorly developed. Abaxial sclerenchyma in narrow or discrete strands. Ribs 6–9.
Floral morphology. Inflorescences lanceolate, or broadly lanceolate, or pyramidal. Inflorescences loosely open. Inflorescences (5–)7–16 cm long. Inflorescences branches (2–)3–10(–13) cm long. Inflorescences lowest internodes 2–4 cm long. Inflorescences branches at the lowest nodes 1–2(–3). Inflorescences branches flexible, or capillary. Inflorescences branches spreading after anthesis. (2–)4–10 fertile spikelets on the longest branches. Inflorescences branches rounded in cross section, or angular in cross section. Inflorescences branches scabrous on the angles. Inflorescences branches vestiture moderate. Pedicels 2–10 mm long. Spikelets lower third of the branches without spikelets. Spikelets 8–14 mm long. Spikelets 2–5 mm wide. Spikelets purplish, or brown. Spikelets broadly lanceolate. Florets 3–4(–6). Glumes subcoriaceous (in the centre). Glumes glabrous, or with trichomes. Glumes surfaces scaberulous. Glumes vestiture at the apex. Glumes margins not ciliate. Glumes margins broadly membranous. Glumes apices accuminate. First glume lanceolate. First glume (4–)4.2–6.8(–8.3) mm long. First glume 0.9–1.1 mm wide. First glume 1 nerved. First glume 0.75–0.85 as long as second glume. Second glume lanceolate. Second glume 5.1–7.5(–10) mm long. Second glume (1.8–)2–2.4 mm wide. Second glume 1–3 nerved. Second glume shorter than first lemma. Second glume 0.4–0.6 as long as the spikelets. Rachilla internodes (1.2–)1.3–1.8 mm long. Rachilla internodes antrorsely scabrous. Rachilla internodes cylindrical. Rachilla internodes clavate. Rachilla internodes straight. Lemmas (6–)7–9(–12) mm long. Lemmas lanceolate. Lemmas subcoriaceous (in the centre). Lemmas weakly keeled. Lemmas veins 5. Lemmas with distinct veins in dorsal view. Lemmas with trichomes. Lemmas scabrous. Lemmas trichomes over the entire surface. Lemmas margins smooth. Lemmas upper margins narrowly membranous, or broadly membranous. Lemmas apices accuminate. Lemmas apices awns present (very short). Lemmas apices awns 0.2–0.7 mm long. Lemmas apices awns much shorter than the lemmas. Paleas 6.1–9(–11) mm long. Paleas 0.81–1.5 mm apart. Paleas equal or subequal to the lemmas. Paleas keels scaberulous. Paleas inter-keel regions scabrous. Lodicules with marginal teeth. Lodicules ciliate. Lodicules 1–1.5 mm long. Anthers 2.5–4.5(–5.5) mm long. Ovary apices hairy. Ovary hairs moderate. Fruits 4–5 mm long. Cytology. 2n = 28 (+ B chromosomes).
Ecology. Flowering time June-Sept. On alpine meadows; 2400–3800 m. Distribution. Northwestern China: Xinjiang.
Notes. Type species for the section. In North America and apparently in China there has been almost constant agreement that this is a distinct species. See for example: Aiken and Lefkovitch (1984), Pavlick and Looman (1984), Alexeev (1985), Harms (1985).
Illustrations. • Habitat and inflorescence. Habitat and inflorescence of F. altaica. Left, a zone dominated by F. altaica in the China Head Mountains of British Columbia. Right, inflorescences photographed against the skyline to show the drooping angles of the branches. • Habitat in Northern Yukon. The reddish zone towards the foreground of this picture is dominated by bunches of F. altaica (a bunch is indicated by the arrow). Caribou in the distance had been grazing in this area, which was an unusually grassy area of the "barren" lands. • Leaf anatomy. Leaf cross section of F. altaica. Plicate leaf blades are 0.5–0.79–1.4 mm wide and 0.65–0.96–1.2 mm deep, with 7–17 veins; adaxial to abaxial sclerenchyma strands are present. Abaxial sclerenchyma strands are poorly developed, in discrete, relatively narrow strands opposite the veins. There are 6–9 well defined ribs. • Holotype of controversial specimen: NY. Holotype of the Drummond collection of F. altaica that became the type specimen of F. scabrella. The main label reads. "Type? F. scabrella n. sp! Hook. Fl. Bor. p.253. 6.233. Sheaths scabrous... with minute hairs, Rocky Mountains. T. Drummond. Hooker". The faded label reads "this is the typical plant distinguished by the small size and smaller spikelets, and no ligule. It occurs well north of the Rocky Mountains. It extends to the Gaspe region in Canada F. (Fernald)". This specimen has been annotated as a lectotype by L.E. Pavlick and as an isosyntype by A. Alexeev. • Controversial Drummond isotype specimens: GH. Drummond collections of F. altaica housed at the Gray Herbarium. Left, the original sheet appears to have been cut around the plant material on the left hand side of the sheet and mounted onto a second sheet with no more information on the entire sheet than is shown on the right hand side. On the extreme left the words along the border read, " F. Thurberi V = scabrella". The writing at the bottom left hand corner is, "Rky. Mt. Drummond". The specimen was photographed by Agriculture Canada as number 279. The upper annotation reads, "Festuca altaica Trin. in Ledeb. (possible isotype of F. scabrella Torr. in Hook.) Determined by Leon E. Pavlick, B.C. Provincial Museum, Victoria. Sept. 1981." The lower annotation reads, "probably isotype of Festuca scabrella Torr. in Hook. (nix Thurberi!) Aug. 27 1947. C.A. Taylor Jr."(C.A. Taylor was a student of H.A. Gleason at Cornell University who began a thesis study of Festuca but never finished it). Right, a second sheet that appears to be the other half of the sheet on the left. This has been stamped ISOTYPE. The annotation beside the stamp reads, "Festuca scabrella Torr. in Hook. Fl. Bot. Am. 2. p. 252. t. 233. Rocky Mts. Hook. ex. Torr. Drummond (original stook)". A second closely associated label reads, "Ex. Herb. George Thurber (Purchased 1800)". • Genotypic variation. Fig. 1. Festuca altaica collection from the Yukon with relatively long and wide, flat leaves. W.J. Cody 27968. Plants like this, S.G. Aiken 90–078, had 2n=28 chromosomes. Fig. 2. F. altaica collection of plants from the same Yukon site as those in Fig. 1, W.J. Cody 27696. The leaves are conspicuously shorter and inrolled so that they appear very narrow. Plants like this, S.G. Aiken 90–079, had 2n=28 + 2B chromosomes. Fig. 3. Somatic metaphase plate of F. altaica collection S.G. Aiken 90–079, showing a chromosome number of 2n=28 + 2B. Arrows point to the two B chromosomes. 4800 x. Fig. 4. Somatic metaphase plate of F. altaica, S.G. Aiken, 90–079 showing a chromosome number of 2n=28 + 2B. Arrows point to the two B chromosomes. Present also are fragments deleted from other chromosomes. 3000 x. (Original pictures in Aiken and Fedak, 1992). • Holotype: LE.. Type: Central Asia, Russia, Altai Mountains, "in summa alpe ad fontem fl. Acjulac rarissima", (translation: "Very rare on mountain summit at source of Acjulac River") C.B. Trinius s.n. Holotype: LE. • Distribution in China.
Cite this publication as: ‘Xiang Chen, S.G. Aiken, and M.J. Dallwitz (2002 onwards). Festuca of China: Descriptions, Illustrations, Identification, and Information Retrieval. Version: 4th February 2003. http://www.cdelta.ibcas.ac.cn’.
