(Richardson's fescue)
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Festuca richardsonii is a
rhizomatous or rarely loosely tufted perennial grass that occurs in floodplains and stony slopes mostly in or near the mountains of Denali. This species has a panicle of densely hairy
spikelets. Plants grow 10-40 cm tall from
rhizomes. Leaves are all basal, shorter than stems, narrow (~ 1 mm wide).
Ligules are membranous. The
inflorescence is a
spike-like panicle, 3-7 cm long and often dark purple in color.
Spikelets are 5-7 flowered, typically purplish, with
lanceolate, hairy
glumes. Flowers are bisexual.
Lemmas are distinctly hairy and have an
awn (up to 2 mm long) that arises from the tip.
Anthers are 2-3 mm long. The fruit is single-seeded, indehiscent and dry. Sometimes considered a subspecies of closely related
F. rubra,
F. richardsonii is distinguished by its densely hairy
lemmas.
Festuca richardsonii typically flowers mid-summer.
F. richardsonii is
monoecious, with
stamens and
pistils in the same florets (bisexual). Flowers are wind pollinated. Seeds are most likely wind dispersed. This species also spreads vegetatively through
rhizomatous growth.
F. richardsonii is an arctic-alpine, circumpolar species ranging across northern Eurasia to Alaska, east across northern Canada to Labrador and south through the Rockies to Wyoming. In Alaska, this species occurs in suitable habitat in arctic and alpine regions of the state except for the southeast panhandle and the Aleutian Islands. In Denali, this species occurs in the mountains north of the Alaska Range, radiating into adjacent boreal areas along large river systems.
Details are shown in the Plots & Charts found at right, depicting recent Denali data.
F. richardsonii is seen in the park at elevations from 264 m to 1402 m with an average elevation of 913 m. It prefers moderately steep slopes that averaged 10 degrees. It grew at higher elevations and on steeper sites on south-facing aspects.
Details are shown in the Plots & Charts found at right. For more on how to interpret these figures, visit Understanding Data Presented.
F. richardsonii grows in sandy to gravelly soils on terraces, streambanks, tundra, lakeshores, and sand dunes. Soil pH at sites where it was observed ranged from 4.5 to 7.8 with an average of 6.2.
Wide-ranging, dry to moist sites.
