2. Festuca ovina L. (sheep fescue)
Pl. 177 g;
Map 714
Plants without rhizomes, forming dense tufts or small
clumps, dark bluish green. Flowering stems 20–60 cm long. Leaves mostly basal.
Leaf sheaths open nearly to the base, glabrous, persistent at maturity,
sometimes turning light brown at maturity, but not becoming shredded into
fibers, the ligule 0.2–0.5 mm long. Leaf blades 1–15 cm long, 0.3–0.6 mm wide,
folded or with inrolled margins, without auricles, glabrous. Inflorescences
3–10 cm long, narrow or somewhat open, the branches ascending at maturity, the
lowermost branches with 3–7 mostly strongly overlapping spikelets. Spikelets
5–7 mm long, 2–4 mm wide, elliptic‑lanceolate before flowering (oblong‑elliptic
at maturity), with 3–8 florets. Lower glume 2.0–3.5 mm long, narrowly
lanceolate, sharply pointed at the tip. Upper glume 3.0–4.5 mm long, narrowly
lanceolate, sharply pointed at the tip, 3‑nerved. Lemmas 3–4 mm long,
oblong‑elliptic, tapered to an awn 0.5–2.5 mm long at the tip, not
toothed, very faintly 5‑nerved, usually glabrous. Anthers 2.0–2.5 mm
long. Fruits 2.2–2.8 mm long, reddish brown. 2n=14. May–July.
Introduced, known only from St. Louis County and city
(native of Europe and Asia; introduced widely in temperate portions of the
world). Railroads and disturbed, grassy areas.
As with the closely related F. trachyphylla, this
species was once a common component of turf grass seed mixes but has mostly
been replaced commercially by other, more drought‑tolerant species.