Sixweeks fescue

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Sixweeks fescue

Sixweeks fescue

Sixweeks fescue

Sixweeks fescue

Sixweeks fescue

Sixweeks fescue

Sixweeks fescue inflorescence

Morphology

Culm

Erect or occasionally decumbent, solitary or loosely tufted, slender, unbranched, glabrous or finely-hairy.

Blades

Erect or ascending, rolled inward or rarely flat, 1 to 4 inches long, to 1/12 inch wide, finely-hairy; margins may have few short hairs.

Sheath

Shorter than internodes, loose, keeled, ridged, glabrous or sparingly hairy.

Ligule

Short, membranous; tip truncate, erose or ciliate; auricles absent.

Inflorescence

Panicle, narrow, erect or with slightly drooping tip, dense, 1/2 to 4 inches long; branches short, appressed to slightly spreading.

Spikelets

Flattened, 3-17-flowered, 1/5 to 2/5 inch long excluding awans, smooth, rough or pubescent; rachilla visible, jointed between florets; florets arranged in herringbone pattern; glumes 2, narrow, unequal, membranous, keeled; tips sharp-pointed; first glume about 1/10 inch long, second glume 3-nerved, 1/6 inch long; lemmas lanceolate, 1/8 to 1/5 inch long; rounded on back, long-pointed, smooth or rough, usually awned; awn 1/10 to 1/5 inch long.

Ecology

Habitat

Waste places, rangeland, pastures; dry, bare ground; disturbed sandy, sandy clay, and limestone gravel soils.

Distribution

Throughout Kansas.

Reproduction

From seed.

Practical Information

Forage Value

Except for a period of two to three weeks in early spring, sixweeks fescue has very little forage value. Cattle prefer grazing areas where sixweeks fescue is absent.

Uses

Songbirds and grouse eat the seeds.

Additional Notes

Synonyms

Alternative scientific names that have been used for this plant.