Spiky Fescue

The bearskin fescue is a persistent, overwintering green grass with about 20 to 50 centimeters high and bare stalks, which have a diameter of 0.9 to 1.7 millimeters. It has dense horst-like growth with very thin, bristly to rush-shaped, folded leaves that are closed tubularly to one-third to three-quarters of their length. The leaf blades carry five to seven vascular bundles. The ligules are membranous, slightly fringed and about 0.5 to 1 millimeter long. The yellow-green inflorescence is a panicle that reaches a length of about 4.5 to 7 centimetres. The panicle branches are hairy and each carry an elongated, flattened spikelet that grows to about 9 to 11 millimetres in length. The glumae are unkempt and shorter than the spikelets, the lower one is single-veined, the upper one is three-veined and 4.9 to 5.8 millimetres long. The five-veined lemmas reach a length of 6 to 7.3 millimetres. The flowering season lasts from June to July. The chromosome count is 2n = 14 or 28.

The bearskin fescue is widespread in the southwest of Europe above all in the Pyrenees. Its range extends from northern Morocco to eastern and north-eastern Spain and south-western France. It needs permeable, but moisture-storing soils in a semi-shade location.