Fescue

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Festuca cinerea


Plant Characteristics
Habit   grass
Cultivation
Scientific Names

Poaceae >

Festuca >


Festuca (ancient Latin name for a kind of grass). Gramineae. Fescue-grass. Annual or perennial grasses grown for ornament or as pasture grasses.

Blades narrow: infl. few-fld., paniculate; spikelets 2- to several-fld.; lemmas firm, rounded on the back, usually acute or awned from the tip.—Species about 100, in the temperate and cooler parts of the world.

Festuce (Festuca) is a genus of about 300 species of perennial tufted grasses, belonging to the grass family Poaceae (subfamily Pooideae). The genus has a cosmopolitan distribution, although the majority of the species are found in cool temperate areas, such as the transition zone and Canada[1]. The genus is closely related to ryegrass (Lolium), and recent evidence from phylogenetic studies using DNA sequencing of plant mitochondrial DNA shows that the genus lacks monophyly. As a result plant taxonomists have placed several species, including the forage grasses, tall fescue and meadow fescue, formerly belonging to the genus Festuca into the genus Lolium.[2]

Fescues range from small grasses only 10 cm tall or less with very fine thread-like leaves less than 1 mm wide, to tall grasses up to 2 m tall with large leaves up to 60 cm (2 ft) long and 2 cm (3/4 in.) broad.

Fescue pollen is a significant contributor to hay fever.

Cultivation

Propagation

Pests and diseases

Species

Selected species:

Subgenus Schedonorus, proposed for inclusion in genus Lolium

Gallery

References

  1. Tall Fescue Grasses & Fine Fescues
  2. Darbyshire, S J (1993). "Realignment of Festuca subgenus Schedonorus with the genus Lolium (Poaceae)". Novon 3: 239–243. doi:10.2307/3391460. 

External links