Class
Order
Family
Classification
Subordinate Taxa
Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Festuca L., Sp. Pl. 73 (1753)
Vernacular Name(s):
Fescue
Description
Perennial caespitose, stoloniferous, or rhizomatous. Leaf-sheath split to base or margins fused, apical auricles small. Ligule ciliolate. Leaf-blade convolute, or folded; usually persistent; pungent in F. ultramafica; variable in TS. Culms unbranched; nodes glabrous. Inflorescence an open or contracted panicle of 2-many-flowered laterally compressed, pedicelled spikelets disarticulating above the glumes. Glumes unequal or subequal, persistent, ± keeled and ornamented, rarely exceeding lemmas. Lemma lanceolate-acute or awned, rounded on back or slightly carinate, membranous to thinly coriaceous, 5–7-nerved, awn terminal. Palea bidentate, keels scabrid. Flowers ☿, usually chasmogamous. Lodicules 2, unequally lobed, often hair-tipped. Stamens 3. Ovary glabrous or hispid hairy at apex. Caryopsis dorsiconvex, ventrally sulcate, free; embryo small; hilum long, linear. Fig. 6.
[From: Edgar and Connor (2000) Flora of New Zealand. Volume 5 (second printing).]
Biostatus
Indigenous (Non-endemic)
| Category | Number |
|---|---|
| Indigenous (Endemic) | 9 |
| Indigenous (Non-endemic) | 1 |
| Exotic: Fully Naturalised | 4 |
| Total | 14 |
Bibliography
Linnaeus, C. 1753: Species Plantarum. Impensis Laurentii Salvii, Stockholm.
Mabberley, D.J. 2008: Mabberley's plant book, a portable dictionary of plants, their classification and uses. Edition 3. Cambridge University Press.
