3. Festuca paradoxa Desv. (cluster fescue)
Pl. 177 c,
d; Map 715
F. shortii Kunth ex A.C. Wood
Plants without rhizomes, forming loose tufts, light green or
yellowish green. Flowering stems 50–120 cm long, green at the base. Leaf
sheaths open nearly to the base, glabrous or less commonly hairy, persistent or
sometimes rupturing between the veins, the ligule 0.2–1.0 mm long. Leaf blades
10–40 cm long, 3–10 mm wide, flat, without auricles, glabrous or more commonly
roughened on the upper surface. Inflorescences 5–20 cm long, open, the branches
sometimes drooping during spikelet development but loosely ascending at
maturity, the lowermost branches with clusters of 8–20, strongly overlapping
spikelets toward the tip. Spikelets 4–8 mm long, 4–5 mm wide, obovate before
flowering (ovate to obovate at maturity), with 3–6 florets. Lower glume 2.2–4.0
mm long, narrowly lanceolate, sharply pointed at the tip. Upper glume 3–5 mm
long, narrowly oblong‑elliptic, sharply pointed at the tip, 3‑nerved.
Lemmas 3–5 mm long, oblong‑elliptic to oblong‑ovate, rounded to
more commonly bluntly pointed at the tip, occasionally with a minute, sharp
point or 2 small teeth, 3‑nerved, the lateral nerves usually very faint,
glabrous or roughened. Anthers 1.0–1.6(–2.2) mm long. Fruits 2–3 mm long,
reddish brown. May–July.
Scattered nearly throughout Missouri (eastern U.S. west to Wisconsin, Iowa, and Texas). Upland and rarely bottomland prairies, pastures, openings
of mesic to dry upland forests, glades, and tops and upper ledges of bluffs.