Festuca coxii

Detailed description

Glaucous to dark green tufted tussock. Branching intravaginal, sometimes with internodes elongating below and rooting at nodes; inflorescence short, compact, usually shorter than tall leaf-blades, nodding, with numerous long awned abundantly prickle-toothed florets borne on shortly pedicelled spikelets. Leaf-sheath 80–200 mm long, thin, pale much broader than leaf-blades, minutely retrorsely or antrorsely hairy between nerves becoming glabrous above, margins dark brown membranous below; apical auricles 0–0.5 mm, ciliate. Collar conspicuously thickened and curved. Ligule 0.3–0.5 mm, ciliate. Leaf-blade 110–400 × 0.5–0.9 mm, glaucous to dark green, softly sharp-pointed, terete to somewhat compressed, glabrous, upper surface and margin bearing numerous short (0.15 mm) antrorse or erect prickle-teeth, these diminishing in size above. Culm 250–450 mm, almost always included by leaf-blades; nodes 2–3 dark, glabrous, sometimes ± geniculate; internodes glabrous or densely antrorsely short hairy sometimes becoming less so below. Panicle 60–150 mm, narrow, compact, nodding, with 8–11 nodes of 12–18 close set, usually overlapping, spikelets; branches short, erect-appressed, basal branch 10–20 mm of 3–5 spikelets, not naked below, uppermost 6–10 spikelets solitary on short pedicels; rachis branches and pedicels prickle-toothed on margins, and frequently also densely antrorsely short hairy becoming less so above, or ± glabrous. Spikelets 15–30 × 5–6 mm, of 5–7 florets. Glumes unequal, green centrally, broad, narrowing, becoming awned, prominently keeled, glabrous except for prickle-teeth on keel above and below awn, margin hyaline sometimes short hairy and finely ciliate; usually equating with lowermost lemma, twice as long as nearest proximate internodes or in upper panicle twice proximate internodes of solitary spikelets; lower 4–10 mm, 1-nerved, upper 6–12 mm, 3-nerved. Lemma 6–10 mm, lobes 0 or minute, 5-nerved, slightly keeled, abundantly prickle-toothed throughout, longer teeth and/or hairs below, and on keel and at margins below; awn 6–13 mm, usually < lemma, apex deeply bifid, keels toothed to base, interkeel hairs above, margins of flanks shortly toothed; sometimes folded. Callus 0.3–0.6 mm, long hairy on upper margin, shorter centrally; articulation acute. Rachilla 1.0–1.6 mm, densely antrorsely long hairy. Anthers 3.7–4.2 mm. orange. Ovary 1.0–1.4 mm, triangular turbinate, apex with narrow rim enclosing base of styles and central tuft of hispid hairs (0.2 mm long); stigma-styles 2.5–3.0 mm. Seed 3.7–4.6 mm long. Flowers opening (not cleistogamous).