E-Flora BC: Electronic Atlas of the Flora of British Columbia

Festuca viridula Vasey
green fescue (greenleaf fescue)
Poaceae (Grass family)

Introduction to Vascular Plants

© Ryan Batten  Email the photographer   (Photo ID #66825)

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Distribution of Festuca viridula
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Species Information

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General:
Perennial, densely tufted grass from fibrous roots, forming small clumps; stems (35) 50-100 cm tall, with visible nodes.
Leaves:
Sheaths not conspicuous at the base of the stems as they tend to turn brown early, remaining entire, not shredding into fibres; blades 10-25 cm long, 0.8-2.5 mm wide, flat or loosely folded; ligules 0.2-0.5 mm long.
Flowers:
Inflorescence an open panicle, 4-12 (15) cm long, the branches 1.5-3 cm long; spikelets (2-) 3- to 6- (7-) flowered, 9-12 (15) mm long; lower glumes (2.4) 3.5-5 mm long, the upper ones 4.5-6 (7.5) mm long; lemmas (5.5) 6.5-8 mm long, sharp-pointed or awned or awnless, if awned then the awns 0.5-1.4 mm long; anthers (2) 3-4 (5) mm long; ovary tops hairy.

Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

USDA Species Characteristics

Flower Colour:
Purple
Blooming Period:
Late Spring
Fruit/Seed characteristics:
Colour: Brown
Present over the Summer
Source:  The USDA

Habitat / Range

Mesic to dry meadow slopes in the upper subalpine and alpine zones; infrequent in and E of the Coast-Cascade Mountains in S BC south of 50 degrees N; E to AB and S to MT and CA.

Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

Ecology

Ecological Framework for Festuca viridula

The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from
original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range.
(Updated August, 2013)
Site Information
 Value / Class

Minimum

Average

Maximum
Elevation (metres) 1330 2082 2515
Slope Gradient (%) 5 39 90
Aspect (degrees)
[0 - N; 90 - E; 180 - S; 270 - W] 		7 207 315
Soil Moisture Regime (SMR)
[0 - very xeric; 4 - mesic;
8 - hydric] 		0 2 5
Modal Nutrient Regime
Class		 C
Number of field plots
 species was recorded in:		 39
Modal BEC Zone Class
 ESSF
All BEC Zones (# of stations/zone) species was recorded in: ESSF(26), MS(1)

Climate

The climate type for this species, as reported in the: "British Columbia plant species codes and selected attributes. Version 6 Database" (Meidinger et al. 2008), is not evaluated, unknown or variable.

Synonyms and Alternate Names

Festuca howellii Hack. ex Beal

Taxonomic and Nomenclatural Links


Genetic information (NCBI Taxonomy Database)
 International Plant Names Index
 Taxonomic Information from the World Flora Online
 Integrated Taxonomic Information System

Additional Photo Sources

Images From CalPhoto
UT Austin's Native Plant Database
 Google Image Search
 Flickr Image Search

General References

Google Scholar Search
Family References
 General Botanical References for BC
Recommended citation: Author, Date. Page title. In Klinkenberg, Brian. (Editor) 2020. E-Flora BC: Electronic Atlas of the Plants of British Columbia [eflora.bc.ca]. Lab for Advanced Spatial Analysis, Department of Geography, University of British Columbia, Vancouver. [Accessed: 2024-11-21 3:29:38 PM ]
Disclaimer: The information contained in the E-Flora atlas pages is derived from expert sources as cited in each section. This information is scientifically based. E-Flora also acts as a portal to other sites via deep links. As always, users should refer to the original sources for complete information. E-Flora BC is not responsible for the accuracy or completeness of the original information.
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