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Species Image Gallery (opens in a new window) |
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| THE GRASS FAMILY | |||||||||
| The grass family is economically
and ecologically important. Many of the world’s crops are products
of the grasses. In addition, grasses are represented in almost all terrestrial
ecosystems and are an important part of the natural food chain. The grasses have a set of structures unique to the family. These plants can be annual or perennial and are usually herbaceous. The roots are fibrous, but rhizomes or runners may be found in some species. The stems are solitary or tufted, and may be branched. The stems are round with hollow internodes and solid nodes. The leaves are basal or on the stem. The stem leaves are 2-ranked, meaning they are in two vertical rows and are sheathing at the base. A ligule is present where the leaf sheath and the blade meet. The florets are in spikelets which are then arranged into clusters called spikes, racemes, or panicles. The spikelets usually have two glumes at the base and may be one to several-flowered. Sometimes there are sterile florets, which may consist only of the palea and lemma, present above or below the fertile florets. The florets are usually perfect, meaning that they have both male and female parts. The lemma and palea are the two bracts that subtend each floret. The lemma may be awnless or awned from the tip or the back. Each fertile floret has between one and three stamens and one superior ovary with a feathery stigma. The fruit type is a caryopsis or grain and is unique to the grass family. |
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| SIX-WEEKS FESCUE | |||||||||
| LATIN NAME: Vulpia octoflora var. octoflora | |||||||||
| WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE? | |||||||||
| Six-weeks fescue stems are solitary or loosely tufted. The leaf blades are up to 10 cm long and 1 mm wide. The leaves are thin and thread-like with dark veins. The inflorescence is branched, with one or two erect branches per node. The spikelets are up to 1 cm long and are slightly overlapping, if at all. The lemmas are 5-veined and the lower ones are awned. The palea is slightly shorter than the lemma and is awnless. | |||||||||
| WHERE DOES IT GROW? | |||||||||
| Six-weeks fescue grows in dry, exposed, sandy sites, especially in stabilized dune grasslands. | |||||||||
| WHERE IS IT FOUND IN SASKATCHEWAN? | |||||||||
| This plant is found in southwestern Saskatchewan in the Mixed Grassland ecoregion. | |||||||||
| WHY IS IT RARE? | |||||||||
| Six-weeks fescue is threatened because of rarity in Saskatchewan. Some local populations are small and some are larger. Possible threats have been identified for this species. | |||||||||
| HOW TO IDENTIFY SIX-WEEKS FESCUE | |||||||||
| * Is the lowest lemma 5-nerved and awned? * Does the inflorescence have one or two branches per node? * Are the leaves thin and thread-like? * Did you find in southwestern Saskatchewan? | |||||||||
| If you answered yes to all of these questions, you may have found six-weeks fescue! | |||||||||
