Sesleria nitida

Ten.
Common names: Gray moorgrass
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 24. Treatment on page 681.

Plants cespitose, not rhizomatous. Culms 20-70 cm, ascending. Sheaths glabrous or sparsely pubescent; ligules 0.6-2 mm, truncate to acute, ciliolate; blades of cauline leaves 3.5-7.5 cm long, 2-3 mm wide, glabrous, glaucous; blades of flag leaves 3.5-7.5 cm. Panicles 2-3.5 cm long, 9-15 mm wide, ovoid. Spikelets 5.6-6.5 mm, with 2-3 florets. Glumes 5-6.5 mm, lanceolate, veins hairy, apices 3-5-awned, central awns 1-2 mm, lateral awns about 0.5 mm; lemmas 5-6 mm, glabrous, 3-5-toothed, central teeth 1-1.5 mm, slightly divergent, lateral teeth 0.5-1 mm; paleas 4.5-5 mm, ciliate on the keels; anthers about 2.2 mm. 2n = unknown.

Discussion

Sesleria nitida is native to the mountains of central Italy and Sicily, where it grows in broken, rocky, calcareous habitats, sometimes forming intermediates with S. autumnalis (Deyl 1980). It is grown as an ornamental in the Flora region.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.