Festuca actae

Detailed description

Slender tussock with intravaginal branches, with fine and long glaucous leaf-blades. Leaf-sheath 50–100 mm, stramineous occasionally reddened, glabrous, striate, margins becoming membranous; apical auricles 0.4–0.7 mm, truncate or rounded, ciliate. Ligule as for auricles. Collar 0.6–1.7 mm, manifestly thickened, usually becoming brown coloured, adaxially with many small white hairs. Leaf-blade 200-600 × 0.4-0.7 mm, terete or hexagonal and ribbed, glaucous, glabrous except for prickle-teeth at pointed apex, disarticulating at collar, adaxially and on margin a multitude of small (0.10–0.15 mm) white hairs. Culm 250–600 mm, erect or geniculate at base, nodes 2–3 evident, internodes glabrous. Panicle 50–250, with 7–9 nodes of 10–30 spikelets; basal branches 40–50 mm, binate, lax, of 2–6 spikelets and naked below, soon becoming single ascending branches, uppermost 3–5 spikelets solitary on pedicels; rachis glabrous or sparsely prickle-toothed below becoming more so, branches and pedicels prickle-toothed. Spikelets 10–17 × 6 mm, of 4–12 florets. Glumes unequal, keeled, prickle-teeth on keel and at apex, variously elsewhere, usually green centrally lighter at margins, sometimes purpled, margin ciliate; lower 3.0–4.5 mm, 1-nerved, long triangular acute, upper 4.5–7.5 mm, 3-nerved occasionally 5-nerved, narrowly ovate, acute to obtuse. Lemma 6–9 mm, rounded, lobes small (0.1–0.2 mm), glaucous, prickle-teeth from outer nerve to ciliate margin, scattered elsewhere, denser near awn; awn 0.1–2.5 mm. Palea 6–8 mm, sometimes > lemma, deeply bifid, keels toothed to base or nearly so, flanks and interkeel hairy above. Callus 0.2–0.5 mm, margin very short stiff hairy; articulation flat. Rachilla 1.0–1.5 mm, very shortly antrorsely stiff hairy. Lodicules 0.7–1.5 mm, lobed or entire, hair-tipped. Anthers 3.5–4.4 mm, yellow. Ovary 0.5–1.0 mm, hispid hairs at apex (in 2 lateral groups or occasionally surrounding apex); stigma-styles 1.4–2.8 mm. Seed 3–4.8 mm.