| Festuca ovina L. | |
| Publ. & Syn. | L., Sp. Pl.: 73 (1753). Lectotype (LINN): Sweden: "e Lapponia". Herb. Linn. 92.1 (Kerguélen 1975: 150). |
| Notes | Subspecies capillata (Lam.) Schinz & R. Keller (Festuca capillata Lam., F. tenuifolia Sibth.) may have been introduced in some near-arctic localities but is not persistent. There are uncertain reports from Greenland (see Pedersen 1972). Plants conforming to F. ovina in leaf and floral characters (e.g., open culm leaf sheaths, slender, often twisted awns, and long anthers) were found in 2010 in several populations in an arctic steppe area of northern Svalbard (O, TROM). They do not correspond to any other of the accepted northern Festucas and are provisionally assigned here to F. ovina. Their ploidy level is not known. |
| Chromosomes | (1) 14 (2x). - Europe, Russia, Siberia, Far East (N). - Numerous reports. (2) 28 (4x). - Europe (W, C). - Several reports. Tetraploids are documented in F. ovina (e.g., Watson 1958) but not from the Arctic. Other numbers are very frequently reported, especially in early sources (see Fedorov 1969), but all are suspect. Löve and Löve (1975a) accepted only 2n = 14 and omitted reports of other numbers. |
| Geography | European - Asian: NOR RUS SIB. |
| Distribution | N = F AO = r C = R D = ? E = F YG = f FN = f UN = s YK = r SF = r Tm = r KP = f [ key ] |
| Parent taxon | Festuca L. |
| PAF ID | 342216 |