Plants loosely or densely cespitose, with or without rhizomes. Innovations intravaginal or extravaginal. Blades usually more or less stiff, setaceous if lax, usually conduplicate, sometimes convolute or flat; ribs usually distinct; sclerenchyma girders sometimes present at the major veins. Calluses wider than long, scabrous on the margins; lemmas usually membranous or chartaceous, rarely somewhat coriaceous, usually entire, sometimes minutely bidentate, usually awned, sometimes unawned; ovary apices glabrous or sparsely to densely pubescent.

Discussion

Festuca subg. Festuca is most abundant in the Northern Hemisphere, but it is distributed on all continents except Antarctica. Estimating the number of species in this subgenus is difficult in the absence of adequate treatments for many parts of the world, but it probably exceeds 400.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

Festuca sect. Breviaristatae, Festuca sect. Festuca