Festuca liangshanica L. Liu

This species resembles Festuca gigantea in its falcate auricles, long awns, and glabrous ovary apex.

Plant loosely tufted with short slender rhizomes. Culms 60–80 cm tall, nodes 1–2. Leaf sheaths glabrous; auricles falcate; leaf blades flat, 6–13 cm × 2.5–4 mm, margins smooth, veins 15–17; adaxial to abaxial sclerenchyma strands present, abaxial sclerenchyma in narrow discrete strands; ligule 0.3–0.5 mm, margin glabrous. Panicle loose, open, 8–20 cm; branches flexuous, 3–9 cm, 2 at lowest node, one long and the other short, smooth. Spikelets 10–20 mm; florets 3–8; glumes smooth, apex obtuse; lower glume narrowly lanceolate, 4–6 mm; upper glume lanceolate, 6–7 mm; rachilla internodes 1.8–2.2 mm, smooth; lemmas 7.5–9 mm, punctiform or scaberulous, apex entire or slightly notched; awns 4.5–13 mm; palea keels scaberulous. Anthers 3.6–4 mm. Ovary apex glabrous. Fl. and fr. Jul.

Sichuan (Liang Shan, Xichang).

* Grassy mountain slopes; ca. 1200 m.