Tall Bearded Fescue

Giant Fescue is common in damp shady places. 1700-3300 m.

Plant loosely tufted, usually with old brownish sheaths at base; shoots extravaginal. Culms 45–150 cm tall, nodes (1–)2–3. Leaf sheaths glabrous or scabrid; auricles falcate; leaf blades dark green, flat, (10–)15–35(–50) cm × 6–18 mm, midrib conspicuous, margins scabrid, veins 26–36; adaxial to abaxial sclerenchyma strands present; ligule (0.5–)1–1.5(–2.5) mm, margin glabrous. Panicle loose, open, 15–25(–50) cm; branches flexuous, 5–10(–15) cm, paired, unequal, shorter with 3–6 spikelets, longer with 6–9 spikelets, lower 1/3 naked. Spikelets 8–13(–20) mm; florets 3–10; glumes smooth or scabrid; lower glume lanceolate, (3.5–)4–7 mm; upper glume broadly lanceolate, 5–8 mm; rachilla internodes 1.3–1.8 mm, scabrid; lemmas 6–7.5(–9) mm, scabrid, apex entire or slightly notched; awns (6–)10–15(–18) mm; palea keels scaberulous. Anthers 2.5–3 mm. Ovary apex glabrous. Fl. and fr. Jul–Aug. 2n = 42.

Loosely tufted perennial without rhizomes; culms 45-150 cm high, erect or spreading, usually stout. Leaf- blades flat, up to 60 cm long, 6-18 mm wide, bright green, smooth and glossy beneath, sometimes scaberulous above; ligule up to 2.5 mm long, with prominent glabrous falcate auricles. Panicle lanceolate to ovate, loose and nodding, 10-50cm long, the branches scabrid. Spikelets 3-10-flowered, 8-13(-20)mm long (excluding the awns); lower glume 4-7mm long, 1-3-nerved; upper glume 5-8 mm long, 3-nerved; lemmas lanceolate in side-view, 6-9mm long, minutely scaberulous, with an awn 10-18 mm long; palea scabrid along the keels; anthers 2.5-3mm long; ovary glabrous.

Europe, temperate Asia, introduced into N. America.

Sichuan, Xinjiang (Tian Shan), Yunnan [Bhutan, NW India, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan; SW Asia, Europe; cultivated North America].

Distribution: Pakistan (N.W.F.P. & Kashmir); Europe and temperate Asia; intro¬duced in North America.

2300-2600 m

Fl. & Per. : July-August.

Damp shady places along forest margins, grasslands, under shrubs; 1000–3800 m.

Bromus giganteus Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 1: 77. 1753; Lolium giganteum (Linnaeus) Darbyshire.

Perennials, Terrestrial, not aquatic, Stems nodes swollen or brittle, Stems erect or ascending, Stems geniculate, decumbent, or lax , sometimes rooting at nodes, Stems caespitose, tufted, or clustered, Stems terete, round in cross section, or polygonal, Stem internodes hollow, Stems with inflorescence less than 1 m tall, Stems with inflorescence 1-2 m tall, Stems, culms, or scapes exceeding basal leaves, Leaves mostly basal, below middle of stem, Leaves mostly cauline, Leaves conspicuously 2-ranked, distichous, Leaves sheathing at base, Leaf sheath mostly open, or loose, Leaf sheath smooth, glabrous, Leaf sheath and blade differentiated, Leaf blades linear, Leaf blade auriculate, Leaf blades 2-10 mm wide, Leaf blades 1-2 cm wide, Leaf blades mostly flat, Leaf blade margins folded, involute, or conduplicate, Leaf blades mostly glabrous, Leaf blades scabrous, roughened, or wrinkled, Ligule present, Ligule an unfringed eciliate membrane, Inflorescence terminal, Inflorescence an open panicle, openly paniculate, branches spreading, Inflorescence solitary, with 1 spike, fascicle, glomerule, head, or cluster p er stem or culm, Inflorescence lax, widely spreading, branches drooping, pendulous, Inflorescence with 2-10 branches, Inflorescence branches more than 10 to numerous, Flowers bisexual, Spikelets pedicellate, Spikelets laterally compressed, Spikelet less than 3 mm wide, Spikelets with 3-7 florets, Spikelets with 8-40 florets, Spikelets solitary at rachis nodes, Spikelets all alike and fertille, Spikelets bisexual, Spikelets disarticulating above the glumes, glumes persistent, Spikelets disarticulating beneath or between the florets, Rachilla or pedicel glabrous, Glumes present, empty bracts, Glumes 2 clearly present, Glumes distinctly unequal, Glumes shorter than adjacent lemma, Glumes equal to or longer than adjacent lemma, Glumes 1 nerved, Glumes 3 nerved, Lemmas thin, chartaceous, hyaline, cartilaginous, or membranous, Lemma similar in texture to glumes, Lemma 5-7 nerved, Lemma glabrous, Lemma rugose, with cross wrinkles, or roughened, Lemma apex acute or acuminate, Lemma distinctly awned, more than 2-3 mm, Lemma with 1 awn, Lemma awn less than 1 cm long, Lemma awn 1-2 cm long, Lemma awned from tip, Lemma awns straight or curved to base, Lemma margins thin, lying flat, Lemma straight, Palea present, well developed, Palea about equal to lemma, Palea 2 nerved or 2 keeled, Stamens 3, Styles 2-fid, deeply 2-branched, Stigmas 2, Fruit - caryopsis, Caryopsis ellipsoid, longitudinally grooved, hilum long-linear.