Festuca rubra subsp. mediana

(Pavlick) Pavlick
Common names: Dune red fescue
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 24. Treatment on page 415.
Please click on the illustration for a higher resolution version.
Illustrator: Cindy Roché

Copyright: Utah State University

Plants rhizomatous, densely cespitose. Culms 20-30 cm. Sheaths reddish brown, glabrous or pubescent, shredding into fibers, cauline leaf sheaths loosely or tightly enclosing the culms; blades 0.7-1.5 mm in diameter, conduplicate; abaxial sclerenchyma in narrow strands; adaxial sclerenchyma sometimes present. Inflorescences mostly congested, lanceolate, often partially included in the uppermost leaf sheaths at maturity; branches scabrous. Spikelets to about 12 mm, with 4-8 florets. Lower glumes 2.5-3.2 mm; upper glumes 3.5-4.6(5) mm; lemmas 4.5-6 mm, glabrous or pilose, acuminate in side view, apices awned, awns 0.5-2 mm; anthers 2.5-3 mm long. 2n = 42 [for Festuca rubra var. littoralis Vasey ex Beal].

Discussion

Festuca rubra subsp. mediana grows in sand beaches and dunes along exposed coasts, from Vancouver Island to Oregon.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.
Stephen J. Darbyshire +  and Leon E. Pavlickf +
(Pavlick) Pavlick +
Dune red fescue +
Conn. +, N.J. +, N.Y. +, Wash. +, Va. +, Del. +, D.C. +, Wis. +, W.Va. +, Pacific Islands (Hawaii) +, Mass. +, Maine +, N.H. +, R.I. +, Vt. +, Oreg. +, Wyo. +, Ala. +, Ariz. +, Ga. +, Iowa +, Ill. +, Ind. +, Ky. +, Md. +, Mich. +, Minn. +, Mont. +, N.Dak. +, Nebr. +, N.Mex. +, Pa. +, S.C. +, Tex. +, N.C. +, Tenn. +, Calif. +, Nev. +, Alaska +, Colo. +, Idaho +, Alta. +, B.C. +, Greenland +, Man. +, N.B. +, Nfld. and Labr. +, N.S. +, N.W.T. +, Nunavut +, Ont. +, P.E.I. +, Que. +, Sask. +, Yukon +, Ohio +, Utah +  and Mo. +
Gramineae +
Festuca rubra subsp. mediana +
Festuca rubra +
subspecies +