Festuca tibetica (Stapf) E.Alexeev Byull. Mosk. Obshch. Ispyt Prir. Biol. 83(4): 118. 1978.
Î÷²ØÑòé XI ZANG YANG MAO.
Festuca valesiaca var. tibetica Stapf in J. D. Hooker, Fl. Brit. Ind. 7: 349. 1897. Festuca polycolea var brevis Stapf 1897. Festuca brevis Aschers., Schweint, & Muschl. 1912. Festuca ovina subsp. coelestis St-Y. 1928. Type: China: Xizang; Lectotypus, Herbarium. HOOKERIANUM. 1867. Kew, H2000/02132 4; selected by E. Alexeev (1978). 'regio alp. 14000ft. (K). Subg. Festuca L. sect. Festuca.
Vegetative morphology. Plants stiffly erect. Plants densely tufted. Plants clumped very tightly. Plants with non-flowering shoots more common than flowering shoots. Plants with leaves mostly basal. Plants with tillering leaves over half the length of the culms. Plants with shoots intravaginal. Culms 4–17 cm tall. Culms (0.5–)0.6–0.8 mm wide. Culms spreading, or strict, erect. Culms internodes glabrous, or scabrous (at 40x). Culms internodes ridged or striped (slightly). Culms nodes 1. Uppermost culms nodes in lower 1/3 of the culm. Butt sheaths present. Butt sheaths persistent and investing base of culms. Butt sheaths with compacted dead sheaths. Sheaths shorter than the internode. Sheaths glabrous. Sheaths open more than half their length. Sheaths not conspicuous at the base of the plant. Sheaths remaining entire, not conspicuously splitting between the veins. Auricles erect swellings, or absent. Ligules 0.1–0.4 mm long. Ligules glabrous. Ligules membranous. Ligules margins ciliate, or ciliolate. Ligules apices lacerate. Leaf blades more or less lax. Leaf blades filiform. Leaf blades conduplicate. Leaf blades 1.5–10.5 cm long. Leaf blades adaxial surfaces glabrous. Leaf blades abaxial surfaces glabrous. Flag leaves blades 1–3.5 cm long. Flag leaves blades distinctly shorter than the sheath. Leaf blades 0.3–0.4 mm wide. Leaf blades 0.6–0.8 mm deep. Veins 7. Adaxial to abaxial sclerenchyma strands absent. Abaxial sclerenchyma poorly developed. Abaxial sclerenchyma in narrow or discrete strands. Ribs 2 (only 2 lateral ribs well defined).
Floral morphology. Inflorescences narrowly lanceolate. Inflorescences contracted. Inflorescences 1.5–3 cm long. Inflorescences branches 0.5–1 cm long. Inflorescences lowest internodes 0.5–1.5 cm long. Inflorescences branches at the lowest nodes 1–2. Inflorescences branches stiff. Inflorescences branches appressed after anthesis. 2–5 fertile spikelets on the longest branches. Inflorescences branches angular in cross section. Inflorescences branches scabrous all over. Inflorescences branches vestiture moderate, or dense. Pedicels 2–3.2 mm long. Spikelets aggregated towards the ends of the branches. Spikelets 4–6 mm long. Spikelets greenish. Spikelets broadly lanceolate, or lanceolate. Florets 3–4. Glumes membranous. Glumes glabrous. Glumes margins ciliolate. Glumes margins broadly membranous. Glumes apices accuminate. First glume lanceolate. First glume 2.3–2.8 mm long. First glume 1 nerved. Second glume lanceolate. Second glume 3.8–4.2 mm long. Second glume 3 nerved. Second glume similar in length to first lemma. Second glume 0.7–0.8 as long as the spikelets. Rachilla internodes 0.6–0.8 mm long. Rachilla internodes antrorsely scabrous. Rachilla internodes flattened. Lemmas 3.3–3.7 mm long. Lemmas lanceolate. Lemmas subcoriaceous. Lemmas somewhat dorsally compressed. Lemmas veins 5. Lemmas nerveless in dorsal view or sometimes with only the centre vein distinct. Lemmas with trichomes. Lemmas scabrous, or pubescent. Lemmas trichomes on the upper portion. Lemmas margins scaberulous, or scabrous. Lemmas upper margins narrowly membranous, or not membranous. Lemmas apices accuminate. Lemmas apices awns 1–1.8 mm long. Lemmas apices awns much shorter than the lemmas. Paleas 3.7–4.5 mm long. Paleas 0.6–0.8 mm apart. Paleas equal or subequal to the lemmas (slightly longer than lemma). Paleas keels scabrous. Paleas inter-keel regions glabrous. Anthers 0.8–1.2(–1.4) mm long. Ovary apices glabrous.
Ecology. Flowering time Jul.-Sep. On grassy places of mountain slopes; 2700–4000 m. Distribution. Southwestern China: Yunnan, Xizang.
Notes. Saint-Yves (1928) placed Festuca valesiaca var. tibetica in the synonymy of Festuca ovina subsp.coelestis Saint-Yves. The taxon is composed of short plants from high altitudes in Tibet and should be considered when studying the F. cumminsii aggr.
Illustrations. • Lectotype specimen: KEW. Note relative small plants with leaves in a basal tuft, and dense, spike-like panicles. Lectotype selected for Festuca tibetica by E. Alexeev. China:Tibet; Herbarium. HOOKERIANUM. 1867. Kew, H2000/02132 4; selected by E. Alexeev in 1975. • Close up to inflorescence. Subgenus Festuca-like, spikelets less than 1 cm long, with short awns, portion of the lectotype specimen previous image. • Leaf anatomy 1. Leaf anatomy unlike typical F. valesiaca. Sketch on the lecototype specimen possibly provided by Alexeev to justify raising the taxon to a full species. • Leaf anatomy 2. Leaf anatomy of Festuca tibetica from original description (Byull. Mosk. Obshch. Ispyt Prir. Biol. 83(4): 118. 1978.), unlike previous image. • 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’.
