Common Name: Arizona Fescue Duration: Perennial Nativity: Native Lifeform: Graminoid General: Large densely tufted bunchgrass, mostly 45 to 90 cm tall, densely scabrous or pubescent below the inflorescence. Vegetative: Leaves tightly involute, narrow and basal, 25 to 50 cm long, usually firm to glaucous, ligule 0.5-1.5 mm long, membranous, margin ciliate, no auricles and sheaths closed for less than half their length. Inflorescence: Panicle, open to loosely contracted, 6-15 cm, 1-2 branches per node, short and erect or spreading, spikelets 9-12 mm long and 4-6 flowered, unequal glumes, lower glume smaller and 1-veined, upper glume larger and 3-veined, awnless or less than 2 mm long, densely pubescent on the apices of the ovary. Ecology: Found in open ponderosa forests and in high-elevation meadows, 7,000–10,000 ft (2133–3048 m), flowers June–August. Distribution: Found across the southwestern United States and into northern Mexico. Notes: Easy to identify with its involute leaves and large fountain-like habit, especially in the larger stands of the species. Is very simple to harvest the seed when mature and can be useful as a restoration species. Ethnobotany: No known uses. Etymology: Festuca comes from Latin for stalk, straw or rod, while arizonica means of or from Arizona. Editor: SBuckley, 2021
