Festuca ovina L. (China) Sp. Pl.: 73. 1753.
Ñòé YANG MAO.
Subg. Festuca L. sect. Festuca.
Vegetative morphology. Plants yellowish green, or bluish gray green. Plants stiffly erect. Plants densely tufted. Plants clumped moderately, or very tightly. 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, or over half the length of the culms. Plants with shoots intravaginal. Culms 10–60 cm tall. Culms 0.4–0.8 mm wide. Culms geniculate (slightly), or strict, erect. Culms internodes glabrous, or scabrous, or pubescent. Culms nodes 1–2. Uppermost culms nodes in lower 1/3 of the culm. Butt sheaths absent. Sheaths shorter than the internode. Sheaths glabrous, or with trichomes (sometimes, basal sheaths). Sheaths punctiform, or scabrous. Sheaths open more than half their length. Sheaths conspicuous at the base of the plant, persisting for more than 1 year, or not conspicuous at the base of the plant. Sheaths remaining entire, not conspicuously splitting between the veins. Auricles erect swellings, or absent. Ligules (0.1–)0.2–0.3(–0.5) mm long. Ligules margins ciliate. Ligules apices erose, or lacerate. Leaf blades erect, stiffish, or more or less lax. Leaf blades filiform. Leaf blades conduplicate. Leaf blades (3–)8–25 cm long. Leaf blades adaxial surfaces glabrous, or with trichomes (slightly). Leaf blades adaxial surfaces scabrous. Leaf blades abaxial surfaces glabrous, or with trichomes. Leaf blades abaxial surfaces scabrous. Leaf blades margins smooth, or scabrous (usually). Flag leaves blades 1–5 cm long. Flag leaves blades distinctly shorter than the sheath. Leaf blades 0.25–0.35(–0.6) mm wide. Leaf blades 0.4–0.6(–0.8) mm deep. Veins 5(–7). Adaxial to abaxial sclerenchyma strands absent. Abaxial sclerenchyma well developed. Abaxial sclerenchyma in broad bands or continuous (a continued ring). Ribs 1 (usually only central rib well defined).
Floral morphology. Inflorescences narrowly lanceolate. Inflorescences spiciform. Inflorescences 2–8 cm long. Inflorescences branches (0.5–)1–2 cm long. Inflorescences lowest internodes 0.7–2 cm long. Inflorescences branches at the lowest nodes 1. Inflorescences branches stiff. (1–)2–5 fertile spikelets on the longest branches. Inflorescences branches angular in cross section, or flattened and ribbon-like. Inflorescences branches scabrous on the angles. Inflorescences branches vestiture moderate. Pedicels 0.7–2 mm long. Spikelets aggregated towards the ends of the branches, or evenly distributed along the branches. Spikelets 4–5(–5.5) mm long. Spikelets 1–2.5 mm wide. Spikelets greenish, or purplish, or brown. Spikelets lanceolate. Florets 3–4(–6). Glumes glabrous, or with trichomes. Glumes surfaces scabrous. Glumes vestiture on the veins, or at the apex. Glumes margins ciliolate, or not ciliate. Glumes margins narrowly membranous. Glumes apices accuminate. First glume narrowly lanceolate, or lanceolate. First glume 1.8–2.8 mm long. First glume 1 nerved. First glume 0.6–0.8 as long as second glume. Second glume lanceolate, or broadly lanceolate. Second glume 2.8–3.5 mm long. Second glume 3 nerved. Second glume shorter than first lemma. Second glume 0.4–0.6 as long as the spikelets. Rachilla internodes 0.8–1 mm long. Rachilla internodes antrorsely scabrous. Rachilla internodes flattened, or cylindrical. Rachilla internodes narrow. Rachilla internodes straight, or zigzag (slightly). Lemmas 3–4(–5) mm long. Lemmas lanceolate. Lemmas veins 5. Lemmas nerveless in dorsal view or sometimes with only the centre vein distinct. Lemmas with trichomes. Lemmas punctiform, or scabrous. Lemmas trichomes on the upper portion. Lemmas upper margins not membranous. Lemmas apices accuminate. Lemmas apices awns present. Lemmas apices awns 0.5–2 mm long. Lemmas apices awns much shorter than the lemmas. Paleas 3.5–4 mm long. Paleas 0.6–0.7 mm apart. Paleas equal or subequal to the lemmas. Paleas keels scabrous. Paleas inter-keel regions glabrous (or nearly so). Anthers 1.5–2.2 mm long. Ovary apices glabrous.
Ecology. Flowering time Jun.-Sep. In alpine meadows, steppes, on grassy places, under forests; 1600–4400 m. Distribution. Northwestern China: Shaanxi, Gansu, Qinghai, Ningxia, Xinjiang. Southwestern China: Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, Xizang. Northern China: Nei Mongol. Southern China: Taiwan. Northeastern China: Jilin. Eastern China: Jiangsu (cultivated), Zhejiang, Anhui.
Notes. Tzvelev (1976) recognized three subspecies that he distinguished as follows.
Plants 15–60 cm tall, lemma 2.8–4.5 mm long ; plants from plains and lower hills... F. ovina subsp. ovina
Plants 10–30 cm tall; growing in upper mountain belt on bald mountain peaks.
Lemma 3.8–5 mm ... F. ovina subsp. sphagnicola
Lemma 3–4.2 mm...F. ovina subsp. ruprechtii.
Illustrations. • 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’.
