Festuca japonica Makino Bot. Mag. Tokyo 20: 83. 1906.
ÈÕ±¾Ñòé RI BEN YANG MAO.
Festuca eauriei Hackel.
Vegetative morphology. Plants softly erect. Plants loosely tufted, or turf forming. Plants clumped moderately. Plants with non-flowering shoots more common than flowering shoots. Plants with leaves mostly basal. Plants with tillering leaves 1/4 to 1/3 the length of the culms. Plants with shoots extravaginal. Rhizomes present (slender). Culms 30–75 cm tall. Culms 1–1.6 mm wide. Culms strict, erect. Culms internodes glabrous (or scaberulous). Culms nodes 1–2(–3). Uppermost culms nodes in lower 1/3 of the culm, or in mid 1/3 of the culm. Sheaths shorter than the internode. Sheaths glabrous. Sheaths open more than half their length. Sheaths not conspicuous at the base of the plant. Sheaths splitting between the veins, or remaining entire, not conspicuously splitting between the veins. Collars glabrous. Auricles absent. Ligules 0.2–0.5(–1) mm long. Ligules margins ciliolate, or without cilia. Ligules apices erose. Leaf blades more or less lax. Leaf blades linear (narrow). Leaf blades flat, or involute (may involute on drying). Leaf blades adaxial lateral longitudinal ridges distinctly raised. Leaf blades 5–20 cm long. Leaf blades 1–2.5 mm wide. Leaf blades adaxial surfaces with trichomes. Leaf blades adaxial surfaces glabrescent, or scabrous. Leaf blades abaxial surfaces glabrous. Flag leaves blades 6–10 cm long. Flag leaves blades distinctly shorter than the sheath. Veins 5. Adaxial to abaxial sclerenchyma strands absent. Abaxial sclerenchyma poorly developed. Abaxial sclerenchyma in narrow or discrete strands. Ribs 5 (sometimes only central rib and 2 lateral ribs well defined).
Floral morphology. Inflorescences narrowly lanceolate, or lanceolate. Inflorescences loosely open. Inflorescences (7–)10–20 cm long. Inflorescences branches (2–)4.5–9 cm long. Inflorescences lowest internodes 2.5–6.5 cm long. Inflorescences branches at the lowest nodes 1, or 2 (usually). Inflorescences branches flexible. 3–4 fertile spikelets on the longest branches. Inflorescences branches angular in cross section. Inflorescences branches scabrous on the angles (scaberulous), or glabrous (usually). Inflorescences branches vestiture sparse. Pedicels 6–13 mm long. Spikelets aggregated towards the ends of the branches. Spikelets 4–6 mm long. Spikelets 1.3–2.5 mm wide. Spikelets greenish. Spikelets lanceolate. Florets 2–3(–4). Glumes glabrous. Glumes margins not ciliate. Glumes margins broadly membranous (distinctly). Glumes apices acute, or obtuse. First glume lanceolate. First glume 1–1.5 mm long. First glume 0.6–0.9 mm wide. First glume 1 nerved. First glume 0.5–0.7 as long as second glume. Second glume ovate. Second glume 1.5–2 mm long. Second glume 0.8–1.1 mm wide (ovate). Second glume 1 nerved, or 3 nerved (lateral veins faint). Second glume shorter than first lemma. Second glume 0.4–0.5 as long as the spikelets. Rachilla internodes 0.4–0.8 mm long. Rachilla internodes antrorsely scabrous. Rachilla internodes flattened, or cylindrical. Rachilla internodes narrow. Rachilla internodes straight, or curved. Lemmas 3.5–4 mm long. Lemmas broadly lanceolate. Lemmas rounded on the back. Lemmas veins 5. Lemmas with distinct veins in dorsal view. Lemmas glabrous. Lemmas upper margins narrowly membranous, or broadly membranous. Lemmas apices acute. Lemmas apices awns absent. Lemmas apices awns 0 mm long. Lemmas apices awns much shorter than the lemmas. Paleas 3.5–3.8 mm long. Paleas 0.81–0.9 mm apart. Paleas equal or subequal to the lemmas. Paleas keels scaberulous, or scabrous. Paleas inter-keel regions glabrous. Anthers 1.2–1.6(–2) mm long. Ovary apices hairy. Ovary hairs moderate. Fruits 2.5 mm long.
Ecology. Flowering time May-Aug. Under forests, in grassy land, along roadsides or streamside; 1300–3100 m. Distribution. Northwestern China: Shaanxi, Gansu. Southwestern China: Sichuan, Guizhou. Central China: Hubei. Southern China: Taiwan. Eastern China: Zhejiang, Anhui.
Notes. Lu (1992) placed this taxon in subg. Drymanthele sect. Sinenses. She described the section as having leaf blades conduplicate or involute; ligules 0.3–1.5 mm. lemma apices awnless or mucronate; anthers 1–1.8 mm; ovary apices hairy or glabrous. In both the cladistic and clustering analyses this taxon moved around and did not cluster convincingly with other taxa.
Illustrations. • Herbarium specimen: KUN: 0323800. Herbarium label reads: collected in Hubei; on mountain. Note long, flat or loosely involute leaves born on the culm and loose pancile with relatively long branches. • Leaf anatomy. Leaf blades more or less lax, linear (narrow), flat or involute, adaxial lateral longitudinal ridges distinctly raised, 1–2.5 mm wide (flat leaf blades), 0.3–0.5 mm wide, 0.8–1 mm deep; veins 5; adaxial to abaxial sclerenchyma strands absent; abaxial sclerenchyma poorly developed, in discrete, relatively narrow strands opposite the veins; ribs 5 (sometimes only central rib and 2 lateral ribs well defined). • Close up to spikelet. Spikelet from KUN: 0323800. Spikelt about 5 mm long, with 3 awnless florets and relatively short glumes. • Distribution map.
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’.
