Festuca idahoensis

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Festuca idahoensis
Festucaidahoensis1.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. idahoensis
Binomial name
Festuca idahoensis
Synonyms [1] [2]

Festuca amethystina subvar. idahoensis(Elmer) St.-Yves
"Festuca idahoensis" subspecies "roemeri"(Elmer) S. Aiken

Festuca idahoensis is a species of grass known by the common names Idaho fescue and blue bunchgrass. It is native to western North America, where it is widespread and common. It can be found in many ecosystems, from shady forests to open plains grasslands.

Description

This fescue is a densely clumping long-lived perennial bunch grass with stems from about 30 to 80 centimetres (12 to 31+12 inches) in height. [3] The stiff, short, rolling leaves are mostly located near the base of the tuft. The inflorescence has hairy spikelets which produce large awned fruits. The root system is thick and penetrates deeply into the soil. The roots have symbiotic mycorrhizae. There are no rhizomes; the plant reproduces from seeds and from budding with tillers.

It is similar to, but generally taller and larger than, Poa secunda . [4]

Ecology

The species can grow in well-soiled areas along with ponderosa pine. [4]

This is a nutritious and preferred forage grass for wild and domestic animals. Typical native grass associates in the far west coastal prairies are Danthonia californica, Deschampsia caespitosa and Nassella pulchra. [5] It is a popular larval host, supporting Lindsey's skipper, sandhill skipper, Sonora skipper, woodland skipper, and western banded skipper caterpillars. [6]

Festuca idahoensis subsp. Roemeri is a preferred host plant of many Castilleja flowers, including the rare Castelleja levisecta. [7] [8]

Cultivation

Cultivars, such as "Siskiyou Blue," are produced in the horticulture industry for landscape design and garden use. [9]

Related Research Articles

<i>Castilleja</i> Genus of flowering plants belonging to the broomrape family

Castilleja, commonly known as paintbrush, Indian paintbrush, or prairie-fire, is a genus of about 200 species of annual and perennial herbaceous plants native to the west of the Americas from Alaska south to the Andes, northern Asia, and one species as far west as the Kola Peninsula in northwestern Russia. These plants are classified in the broomrape family Orobanchaceae. They are hemiparasitic on the roots of grasses and forbs. The generic name honors Spanish botanist Domingo Castillejo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ornamental grass</span> Grass grown as an ornamental plant

Ornamental grasses are grasses grown as ornamental plants. Ornamental grasses are popular in many colder hardiness zones for their resilience to cold temperatures and aesthetic value throughout fall and winter seasons.

<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>Deschampsia cespitosa</i> Species of flowering plant

Deschampsia cespitosa, commonly known as tufted hairgrass or tussock grass, is a perennial tufted plant in the grass family Poaceae. Distribution of this species is widespread including the eastern and western coasts of North America, parts of South America, Eurasia and Australia.

<i>Nassella pulchra</i> Species of grass

Nassella pulchra, basionym Stipa pulchra, is a species of grass known by the common names purple needlegrass and purple tussockgrass. It is native to the U.S. state of California, where it occurs throughout the coastal hills, valleys, and mountain ranges, as well as the Sacramento Valley and parts of the Sierra Nevada foothills, and Baja California.

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

Festuca rubra is a species of grass known by the common name red fescue, creeping red fescue or the rush-leaf fescue. It is widespread across much of the Northern Hemisphere and can tolerate many habitats and climates. It is best adapted to well-drained soils in cool, temperate climates; it prefers shadier areas and is often planted for its shade tolerance. Wild animals browse it, but it has not been important for domestic forage due to low productivity and palatability. It is also an ornamental plant for gardens.

<i>Vulpia bromoides</i> Species of grass in the family Poaceae

Vulpia bromoides, squirreltail fescue, barren fescue or brome fescue, is a species of grass in the family Poaceae. It is a winter annual native to Europe, North Africa, and West Asia, but has been introduced to parts of the America, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and isolated parts of East Asia.

<i>Danthonia californica</i> Species of grass

Danthonia californica is a species of grass known by the common name California oatgrass. This plant is native to two separate regions of the Americas, western North America from California to Saskatchewan, and Chile.

<i>Elymus glaucus</i> Species of North American grass

Elymus glaucus is a species of grass known as blue wild rye or blue wildrye. This grass is native to North America from Alaska to New York to northern Mexico. It is a common and widespread species of wild rye.

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

Festuca californica is a species of grass known by the common name California fescue.

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

Festuca elmeri is a species of grass known by the common names coast fescue and Elmer's fescue. It is a bunchgrass native to the US states of California and Oregon, where it often grows in wet, shady areas in coastal counties.

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

Festuca viridula is a species of grass known by several common names, including green fescue, greenleaf fescue, and mountain bunchgrass. It is native to western North America from British Columbia to Colorado, where it is most abundant in high-elevation forests and meadows.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tussock grass</span> Species of grass

Tussock grasses or bunch grasses are a group of grass species in the family Poaceae. They usually grow as singular plants in clumps, tufts, hummocks, or bunches, rather than forming a sod or lawn, in meadows, grasslands, and prairies. As perennial plants, most species live more than one season. Tussock grasses are often found as forage in pastures and ornamental grasses in gardens.

<i>Potentilla diversifolia</i> Species of flowering plant

Potentilla diversifolia or Potentilla × diversifolia is a species of flowering plant in the Rose Family (Rosaceae) known by the common names varileaf cinquefoil, different-leaved cinquefoil, and mountain meadow cinquefoil.

<i>Polites mardon</i> Species of butterfly

Polites mardon, the Mardon skipper, is a butterfly native to the United States northwest coast.

<i>Eriocoma thurberiana</i> Species of flowering plant

Eriocoma thurberiana is a species of grass known by the common name Thurber's needlegrass. It is native to the western United States, where it occurs from Washington to California and east to Montana and Wyoming.

<i>Nassella cernua</i> Species of flowering plant

Nassella cernua is a species of grass known by the common name nodding needlegrass.

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

Festuca octoflora, also known as Vulpia octoflora, is an annual plant in the grass family (Poaceae). The common name six-week fescue is because it supplies about 6 weeks of cattle forage after a rain. Other common names include sixweeks fescue, six-weeks fescue, pullout grass, eight-flower six-weeks grass, or eight-flowered fescue.

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

Festuca kingii is a species of grass in the family Poaceae known by the common names spike fescue and King's fescue. It is native to the western United States from Oregon and California east to Nebraska and Kansas.

References

  1. "Festuca idahoensis Elmer". Plants of the World Online. The Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. n.d. Retrieved May 9, 2023.
  2. "Festuca idahoensis Elmer". Catalogue of Life. Species 2000. n.d. Retrieved May 9, 2023.
  3. Jepson Manual. 1993
  4. 1 2 Taylor, Ronald J. (1994) [1992]. Sagebrush Country: A Wildflower Sanctuary (rev. ed.). Missoula, MT: Mountain Press Pub. Co. p. 70. ISBN   0-87842-280-3. OCLC   25708726.
  5. C. Michael Hogan. 2009
  6. The Xerces Society (2016), Gardening for Butterflies: How You Can Attract and Protect Beautiful, Beneficial Insects, Timber Press.
  7. Love, Stephen (December 21, 2023). "Wholeleaf Paintbrush in the Landscape". Native Plants for the Intermountain West. Retrieved December 21, 2023.
  8. Lawrence, Beth (2008). "Direct and Indirect Effects of Host Plants: Implications for Reintroduction of an Endangered Hemiparasitic Plant (Castilleja levisecta)" (PDF). Madroño. 55 (2): 151–158. doi:10.3120/0024-9637(2008)55[151:DAIEOH]2.0.CO;2.
  9. "Grasses and Grasslike plants_Acorus gramineus_Native Sons".

Notes