GrassBase - The Online World Grass Flora

Descriptions

W.D. Clayton, M. Vorontsova, K.T. Harman & H. Williamson

© Copyright The Board of Trustees, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Festuca imbaburensis

HABIT Perennial; caespitose; clumped densely. Cataphylls inconspicuous. Basal innovations intravaginal. Culms erect; slender; straight; 15–50 cm long; 1 -noded; without nodal roots. Culm-internodes terete. Culm-nodes without exudate; glabrous. Lateral branches lacking. Leaves mostly basal; 0–2 per branch. Leaf-sheaths tight; unthickened at base; open for most of their length; without keel; striately veined; glabrous on surface. Leaf-sheath auricles absent. Ligule a ciliolate membrane; 0.5–0.7 mm long; membranous; white; entire; truncate. Leaf-blade base symmetrical. Leaf-blades straight, or curved; conduplicate; elliptic in section, or circular in section; 9–20 cm long; 0.5–0.6 mm wide; coriaceous; firm; glaucous. Leaf-blade midrib indistinct. Leaf-blade venation indistinct; with subepidermal sclerenchyma strands similar in size; with subepidermal sclerenchyma free from veins; without layer of subepidermal sclerenchyma masking vein striation. Leaf-blade surface glabrous. Leaf-blade margins smooth; glabrous. Leaf-blade apex obtuse.

INFLORESCENCE Inflorescence a panicle; with 1 peduncles per sheath. Peduncle terete; eglandular; glabrous.

Panicle contracted; lanceolate; continuous; dense; straight; 6–12 cm long; 0.5–1 cm wide; bearing few spikelets; evenly furnished, or contracted about primary branches. Panicle branches scabrous.

Spikelets solitary. Fertile spikelets pedicelled.

FERTILE SPIKELETS Spikelets comprising 2–3 fertile florets; with diminished florets at the apex. Spikelets lanceolate; laterally compressed; 8–10 mm long; breaking up at maturity; disarticulating below each fertile floret. Spikelet callus glabrous. Rhachilla internodes smooth; glabrous. Floret callus glabrous.

GLUMES Glumes persistent; similar, or dissimilar; subequal in width; shorter than spikelet. Lower glume oblong; 3–3.5 mm long; 0.75 length of upper glume; chartaceous; light green, or purple; without keels; 1 -veined. Lower glume lateral veins absent. Lower glume apex obtuse, or acute. Upper glume ovate; 4–4.2 mm long; 0.75 length of adjacent fertile lemma; chartaceous; pallid, or light green, or purple; without keels; 3 -veined. Upper glume apex acute.

FLORETS Fertile lemma lanceolate; symmetrical; 5.5–7 mm long; chartaceous; pallid, or mid-green, or purple; without keel; 5 -veined. Lemma surface scabrous. Lemma apex muticous. Palea 2 length of lemma; 2 -veined. Palea keels scabrous. Palea apex scaberulous. Apical sterile florets resembling fertile though underdeveloped.

FLOWER Lodicules 2. Anthers 3; 1–1.5 mm long. Ovary glabrous.

FRUIT Caryopsis with adherent pericarp. Hilum linear.

DISTRIBUTION South America: western South America.

NOTES Poeae. Stancik 2005.

Please cite this publication as detailed in How to Cite Version: 3rd February 2016.