Festuca gigantea

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Giant fescue
Plantarum indigenarum et exoticarum icones ad vivum coloratae, oder, Sammlung nach der Natur gemalter Abbildungen inn- und auslandlischer Pflanzen, fur Liebhaber und Beflissene der Botanik (14226643761).jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Clade: Commelinids
Order: Poales
Family: Poaceae
Subfamily: Pooideae
Genus: Festuca
Species:
F. gigantea
Binomial name
Festuca gigantea
(L.) Vill.

Festuca gigantea, giant fescue, is a plant species in the grass family, Poaceae.

Contents

Most publications have used the names Festuca gigantea or, more recently, Schedonorus giganteus for this species, but DNA studies appear to have settled a long debate that it should be included within the genus Lolium instead.

Description

Ligule and auricles of giant fescue, showing the purple colouration Lolium giganteum auricles.jpg
Ligule and auricles of giant fescue, showing the purple colouration

Giant fescue is a loosely tufted perennial with erect to spreading hollow flowering stems up to about 1.4 m (4 ft) tall (exceptionally up to 165 cm), with purple nodes. They are quite hairless (glabrous), including the leaf sheaths. At the top of the sheath is a short (2 mm) ligule and pointed auricles that can wrap around the stem. The leaf blade is flat, up to about 15 mm wide, and glabrous. The tillers (non-flowering stems) are typically shorter but otherwise similar to the culms.

Flowering typically occurs in late summer, from mid-July until early September, with a loose, nodding open panicle about 40 cm (18 inches) long. The branches are normally in pairs with long stalks below the numerous (up to about 16) spikelet. Each spikelet is 10-17 mm long and has between 4 and 8 bisexual florets and two short, unequal glumes. The lower glume typically has only 1 nerve whereas the upper one has 3. The lemmas have long (up to 22 mm) awns arising from the back just below the tip. Each floret has 3 stamens with anthers about 3 mm long. The fruit is a nut or caryopsis with the seed tightly enclosed by the hardened lemma and palea. [1] [2] [3]

The nodes are usually bright purple Giant fescue node.jpg
The nodes are usually bright purple
base of the plant Giant fescue base.jpg
base of the plant

Taxonomy

This species was originally included within the genus Festuca , owing to the similarity of the flowers and inflorescences. However, there has been much debate since 1898 about its relationship to the genus Lolium , largely because of hybridization with Lolium perenne (species in separate genera are far less likely to form hybrids than those within the same genus). [4] [5] Recent DNA studies have shown that it should indeed be considered a ryegrass (Lolium) rather than a fescue (Festuca) because these species are more closely related to each other, despite the fact that ryegrasses have inflorescences of spikes rather than racemes. [6] [7]

Its chromosome number is 2n = 42. [2]

Festuca gigantea produces fertile hybrids with perennial ryegrass and Italian ryegrass, [8] hence the confusion with its phylogeny and identification.

Habitat and ecology

It is a common plant found especially on heavy, neutral and calcareous soils, in woodland, hedge banks and shady places. [9] It is said to grow best in moist woods.

Nutrition value

Cattle and horses will readily eat its abundant foliage.

Similar species

Festuca altissima also known as Wood Fescue, is similar but is found in rocky woods, has spikelets which droop much more but are half as long, and ligules 3mm long. [10]

Related Research Articles

<i>Festuca</i> Genus in the grass family Poaceae

Festuca (fescue) is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the grass family Poaceae. They are evergreen or herbaceous perennial tufted grasses with a height range of 10–200 cm (4–79 in) and a cosmopolitan distribution, occurring on every continent except Antarctica. 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 moved several species, including the forage grasses tall fescue and meadow fescue, from the genus Festuca into the genus Lolium, or alternatively into the segregate genus Schedonorus.

<i>Lolium perenne</i> Species of plant

Lolium perenne, common name perennial ryegrass, English ryegrass, winter ryegrass, or ray grass, is a grass from the family Poaceae. It is native to Europe, Asia and northern Africa, but is widely cultivated and naturalised around the world.

<i>Festuca pratensis</i> Species of grass

Festuca pratensis, meadow fescue is a perennial species of grass, which is often used as an ornamental in gardens, and is also an important forage crop. It grows in meadows, roadsides, old pastures, and riversides on moist, rich soils, especially on loamy and heavy soils.

<i>Festuca arundinacea</i> Species of flowering plant

Festuca arundinacea (syn., Schedonorus arundinaceus and Lolium arundinaceum) is a species of grass commonly known as tall fescue. It is a cool-season perennial C3 species of bunchgrass native to Europe. It is an important forage grass throughout Europe, and many cultivars have been used in agriculture. It is also an ornamental grass in gardens, and a phytoremediation plant.

<i>Festuca occidentalis</i> Species of flowering plant

Festuca occidentalis is a species of grass known as western fescue. It is native to much of the northern half of North America and is most widely distributed in the west. It is most often found in forest and woodland habitat. The specific epithet occidentalis is Latin, meaning "western".

<i>Bromus madritensis</i> Species of grass

Bromus madritensis is a species of brome grass known by the common name compact brome. The specific epithet madritensis refers to Madrid, Spain. It has a diploid number of 28.

<i>Bromus catharticus</i> Species of grass

Bromus catharticus is a species of brome grass known by the common names rescuegrass, grazing brome, prairie grass, and Schrader's bromegrass. The specific epithet catharticus is Latin, meaning cathartic. The common name rescuegrass refers to the ability of the grass to provide forage after harsh droughts or severe winters. The grass has a diploid number of 42.

<i>Melica ciliata</i> Species of plant

Melica ciliata, the hairy melic or silky spike melic, is a species of flowering plant in the grass family Poaceae, native to Europe, north Africa and temperate Asia. It has been introduced to South Australia.

<i>Festuca vivipara</i> Species of grass

Festuca vivipara, the viviparous sheep's-fescue, is a species of grass native to northern Europe, northern Asia, and subarctic North America. The specific epithet vivipara is Latin, referring to the florets' alteration to leafy tufts. The plant can have a diploid number of 28, 49, 56, or 63, though numbers of 21, 35, and 42 have also been reported.

Hopia obtusa is a species of grass commonly known as vine mesquite. This plant was treated as Panicum obtusum until recently when more molecular and genetic material revealed new information about it. Hopia obtusa is now placed in the monotypic genus Hopia.

<i>Festuca gautieri</i> Species of grass

Festuca gautieri, commonly known as spiky fescue or bearskin fescue, is a species of flowering plant in the grass family, Poaceae, native to the Pyrenees. It is a commonly cultivated evergreen or semi-evergreen herbaceous perennial, and, as a native to European alpine areas, it is a small, low-growing Festuca suitable for rock gardens. It is first described in 1890.

<i>Festuca beckeri</i> Species of grass

Festuca beckeri is a species of grass which can be found in Central and Western Asia, and also in Europe.

<i>Lolium rigidum</i> Species of grass

Lolium rigidum is a species of annual grass. Common names by which it is known include annual ryegrass, a name also given to Italian ryegrass, rigid ryegrass, stiff darnel, Swiss ryegrass and Wimmera ryegrass. It is a native of southern Europe, northern Africa, the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent and is grown as a forage crop, particularly in Australia, where it is also a serious and economically damaging crop weed.

<i>Festuca brachyphylla</i> Species of grass

Festuca brachyphylla, commonly known as alpine fescue or short-leaved fescue, is a grass native to Eurasia, North America, and the Arctic. The grass is used for erosion control and revegetation. The specific epithet brachyphylla means "short-leaved". The grass has a diploid number of 28, 42, or 44. This species was first described in 1827.

<i>Festuca saximontana</i> Species of grass

Festuca saximontana, the rocky mountain fescue or the mountain fescue, is a perennial grass native to North America. The specific epithet saximontana is Latin and means "of the Rocky Mountains". The grass has a diploid number of 42.

Bromus pacificus, the Pacific brome, is a perennial grass native to the Pacific coast of North America. Bromus pacificus has a diploid number of 28.

<i>× Festulolium</i> Nothogenus of Poaceae plants

× Festulolium is a nothogenus of flowering plants in the grass family Poaceae. Naturally occurring hybrids, they are the result of crosses between species of two questionably distinct grass genera, Festuca and Lolium, and the hybrids show phenotypic similarities to both parents. This type of intergeneric hybridization is quite rare, and is indicated by a multiplication symbol before the name. The name Festulolium is an example of a portmanteau word, a combination of the two parents' names.

Festuca alpina, also known as the alphine fescue, is a species of grass in the genus Festuca. It grows in rocky habitats in many of the mountains chains across Europe. in the countries of Austria, Czechoslovakia, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland and Yugoslavia.

<i>Festuca matthewsii</i> Species of grass

Festuca matthewsii, also known as Matthew's fescue, is a species of grass in the family Poaceae. It is native to the South Island of New Zealand. It is perennial and mainly grows on subalpine or subarctic biomes. Festuca matthewsii was first described by Eduard Hackel in 1903 as Festuca ovina subsp. matthewsii, and identified as a species by Thomas Cheeseman in the posthumously released second edition of the Manual of the New Zealand Flora in 1925.

Festuca nigrescens, also known as the alpine Chewing's fescue, is a species of grass in the family Poaceae. It was first described in 1788. It is perennial and grows in temperate biomes.

References

  1. ↑ Cope, Tom; Gray, Alan (2009). Grasses of the British Isles. London: Botanical Society of the British Isles. ISBN   978-0-901158-420.
  2. 1 2 Stace, C.A. (2019). New Flora of the British Isles (4th ed.). Suffolk: C & M Floristics. ISBN   978-1-5272-2630-2.
  3. ↑ Sell, Peter; Murrell, Gina (1996). Flora of Great Britain and Ireland, vol 5. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN   0-521-55339-3.
  4. ↑ Soreng, R.J.; Terrell, E.E. (1997). "Taxonomic notes on Schedonorus, a segregate genus from Festuca or Lolium, with a new nothogenus, x Schedololium, and new combinations". Phytologia. 83 (2): 85–88.
  5. ↑ Darbyshire, S.J. (1993). "Realignment of Festuca Subgenus Schedonorus with the Genus Lolium (Poaceae)". Novon. 3 (3): 239–243. doi:10.2307/3391460. JSTOR   3391460.
  6. ↑ Cheng, Y.; Zhou, K.; Humphreys, M.W.; Harper, J.A.; Ma, X.; Zhang, X.; Yan, H.; Huang, L. (2016). "Phylogenetic Relationships in the Festuca-Lolium Complex (Loliinae; Poaceae): New Insights from Chloroplast Sequences". Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. 4 (89). doi: 10.3389/fevo.2016.00089 . hdl: 2160/44529 .
  7. ↑ Banfi, E.; Galasso, G.; Foggi, B.; Kopecký, D.; Ardenghi, N.M.G. (2017). "From Schedonorus and Micropyropsis to Lolium (Poaceae: Loliinae): new combinations and typifications". Taxon. 66 (3): 708–717. doi:10.12705/663.11 – via Wiley Online Library.
  8. ↑ page 46, Collins Pocket Guide Grasses Sedeges Rushes and Ferns of Britain and Northern Europe, by R Fitter, A Fitter, A Farrer, published 1995, ISBN   0-00-219136-9
  9. ↑ page 408, Wild Flowers of Britain and Ireland, by Marjorie Blamey, Richard Fitter, Alastair Fitter, published 2003, ISBN   0-7136-5944-0
  10. ↑ page 27 The Observers book of Grasses, Sedges and Rushes, by Francis Rose, published 1976, ISBN   0 7232 1533 2
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