Festuca hawaiiensis Hitchc.

synonyms: Festuca drymeja [misapplied in Hawai'i]


no known common names


Info

Subfamily: Pooideae
Genus etymology: Festuca = "stem / straw" [Latin]
Species etymology: hawaiiensis = From Hawai'i
Photosynthetic type: C3 (cool season)
Nativity: endemic
Legal status: Hawaii DLNR - Endangered

Map

 Distribution of Festuca hawaiiensis in Hawaiʻi.

Inflorescence

Festuca hawaiiensis Inflorescence
Festuca hawaiiensis Inflorescence
Festuca hawaiiensis Inflorescence
Festuca hawaiiensis Inflorescence

Plant

Festuca hawaiiensis Plant
Festuca hawaiiensis Plant
Festuca hawaiiensis Plant

Spikelets

Festuca hawaiiensis Spikelets
Festuca hawaiiensis Spikelets
Festuca hawaiiensis Spikelets
Festuca hawaiiensis Spikelets
Festuca hawaiiensis Spikelets
Festuca hawaiiensis Spikelets
Festuca hawaiiensis Spikelets
Festuca hawaiiensis Spikelets

Landscape

Festuca hawaiiensis Landscape

Collar

Festuca hawaiiensis Collar
Festuca hawaiiensis Collar

Description

Perennials; culms tufted, erect, stout, up to 15 dm tall, glabrous. Sheaths shorter than internodes, glabrous; ligule membranous, 1-2 mm long, margins lacerate; blades 20-30 cm long, 3-5 mm wide, attenuate to an involute point, upper surface scabrous, lower surface smooth, base usually involute. Panicles open, erect, 30-40 cm long, the branches spreading or drooping, slender, 8-15 cm long, branching above middle, fasciculate, with ca. 5 branches in lower fascicles, the axis terete and smooth in lower part, angled and scabrous in upper part; spikelets 3-5 per branch, pedicels 5- 10 mm long, rachilla appressed-hispidulous; glumes narrow, glabrous, keels scabrous near apex, first glume 3-5 mm long, I-nerved, second glume 6-7 mm long, 3- nerved; lemmas narrow, 7-9 mm long, 1- 1.5 mm wide, faintly 5-nerved, rounded on the back, scabrous, apex acuminate or prolonged into an awn ca. 1 mm long; palea as long as lemma and closely fitting to edges of lemma, scabrous. Caryopsis reddish brown, oblong to ellipsoid, strongly dorsally compressed, 4-5 mm long.
(Description source: O’Connor, P.J. 1990. Poaceae, pp. 1481–1604. In: Wagner W.L., Herbst D.R. & Sohmer S.H. (eds.)., Manual of the flowering plant of Hawaiʻi. Vol. 2. University of Hawaii Press & Bishop Museum Press, Honolulu )