Leucopoa kingii, spike fescue



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Intermountain Flora
Strongly rhizomatous, coarse perennials, often growing in ring-like tufts up to 2 m in diam; culms stout, 3-10 dm tall, arising from dense clumps of straw-colored remnants of old sheaths and culms; sheaths smooth, striate; lingules scarious, 1-3.5 (7) mm long, erose-ciliolate; blades firm, flat, 2-3.5 (9) mm broad and 20-40 (50) cm long, erect, glacous, coarsely striate; panicles congested but occasionally open, 3-15 (20) cm long, spikelet bearing nearly to the base; spikelets 6-10 (12) mm long, 3- (5)-flowered, the staminate spikelets somewhat longer than the pistillate; glumes broadly lanceolate, subscarious to smooth and shining, the first 3.5-5.5 mm long, 1-nerved, the second 4-6.5 mm long, 3-nerved; lemmas 4.5-8 mm long, ovate, acute or acuminate, sometimes slightly awned, uniformly scabrous, faintly 5-nerved; palea about as long as the lemma, ciliate on the keels; anthers 2.5-4.5 mm long; stigmas long and bushy appearing; caryipsis hispidulous at the apex; 2n = 56.

Cronquist, A., Holmgren, A.H., Holmgren, N.H., Reveal, J.L., and Holmgren, P.K. (1977) "Intermountain Flora" pg. 218, vol. 5, The New York Botanical Garden New York.