Sheep fescue

Sheep fescue i. w. S.
	Sheep fescue ( Festuca ovina )
Systematics
	Monocots
	Commelinids
Order :	Sweet grass (Poales)
Family :	Sweet grasses (Poaceae)
Genre :	Fescue ( festuca )
Type :	Sheep fescue i. w. S.
Scientific name
	Festuca ovina agg.
	L.

The term sheep-fescue describes the very heterogeneous, multi-shape sheep-fescue group ( Festuca ovina agg.) (= Collective species ) belonging to the sweet grasses (Poaceae ). It includes closely related clans ( taxa ) which are very similar in shape and which can be differentiated according to the time of blooming, various differences in leaf and flower characteristics, and according to their ecological preferences and their geographical distribution.

distribution

The sheep fescue is distributed differently across Europe , temperate Asia , North Africa and North America , depending on the clan .

description

The types of the group are herbaceous plants of several years . The grasses reach heights of up to 60 centimeters. They are dense clump- shaped growth with bristly to rush-shaped, tightly folded leaves . They are light to dark green, frosted blue-gray or not frosted (wipeable wax layer). The leaf sheaths are in contrast to the collective species Festuca rubra agg. closed at most in the lower third. The ligule are short and inconspicuous. Small round auricles are developed at the transition from the leaf sheath to the leaf blade .

The panicles are up to 12 centimeters long. They are contracted before and after flowering. The panicle branches stand upright. The lowest branch reaches about a third of the length of the panicle. The spikelets are oblong-ovate and tinged with green to purple. They are three to eight flowered. The glumes are narrowly lanceolate and ciliate on the keel. The lemmas are awned or awned. The flowering period extends from April to October, but varies depending on the clan.

The characteristics vary widely within the different clans and there are numerous transitions, so that a determination is not infrequently difficult. In the meantime, good identifying features such as leaf cross-sections and vascular bundles and sclerenchymal cords (cord-like reinforcing tissue) that can be seen in them have been developed.

Real sheep fescue ( Festuca ovina ), habitus

Spikelets

Spikelets of Festuca vaginata

Ligule

Cross-section of the stalk, enlarged 125 times

Cross-sections of the strings of Festuca pallens var. Pallens

Spade cross-section of Festuca valesiaca s. st.

Cross-section of Festuca vaginata

Cross-section of the spade of Festuca guestfalica

Cross-section of Festuca rupicola

Small types

The list of species is based on an adaptation by E. Patzke & GH Loos and includes a complex of very similar, in part still undescribed clans.

German name	Scientific name	Habitats
Valais sheep fescue	Festuca valesiaca Schleich. ex Gaudin	semi- arid subcontinental grasslands
Fake sheep fescue	Festuca pulchra Schur	Subcontinental semi-arid lawns, shear and park lawns, short-lived ruderal corridors , sheet piling
Furrow sheep fescue	Festuca rupicola hay.	Rock band lawns on limestone, dry and semi-dry lawns, semi-rudimentary couch grass, dry land areas, embankments without trees, soil extraction areas
Siebennerviger-Furchen-Sheep-Fescue	Festuca sulcatiformis ( Margram-Dann. ) Patzke & GH Loos	Ledge lawn on lime
Predatory sheep fescue	Festuca brevipila R. Tracey	Ledge corridors, dry and semi-arid grasslands, short-lived ruderal corridors, shear and park lawns, railroad areas, embankments without wood, wasteland and fallow land , excavation areas
Duval's sheep fescue	Festuca duvalii ( St. Yves ) Stohr	Feather grass steppe lawns , blue schiller grass sand steppes
Real sheep fescue	Festuca ovina L.	abgetorfte surfaces, ground oak acidic mixed forests, coniferous forests , dwarf-shrub , lean lawn , Ephemeral Ruderalfluren, traffic routes, wasteland and municipal waste land, Wild warehouses
Awnless sheep fescue	Festuca filiformis Pourr.	Acid mixed oak forests , coniferous forests , rocky lawns, sandy grasslands, bristle grazing in the lowlands on dry locations, short-lived ruderal meadows, traffic routes, wasteland and fallow land
Patzke's sheep fescue	Festuca patzkei Markgr.-Then.	heat-loving silicate rock grass lawns, rock band lawns
Hungarian sheep fescue	Festuca pannonica Wulfen ex host	Rock lawn
Smooth sheep fescue	Festuca laevigata margram-then.	Drought-bearing upholstered sedge and blue-grass eyrie sedge grass, rock grass, dry and semi-dry grass
Little sheep fescue	Festuca airoides Lam.	Bärwurz grasslands , montane and alpine grasslands
Tough sheep fescue	Festuca guestfalica Boenn. ex Rchb.	Oak-hornbeam forests, heat-loving mixed oak forests, dry pine forests, dry and semi-arid grasslands, oat valley meadows, dry lime-whistle grass meadows, herbaceous meadows and edges of dry locations, short-lived ruderal meadows, traffic routes, wasteland and fallow land
Galmei sheep fescue	Festuca aquisgranensis Patzke & GKBr.	Heavy metal lawns , Galmeifluren
Léman's sheep fescue	Festuca lemanii bastard	Lean sand lawns, sheet piling
Long-leaved sheep fescue	Festuca longifolia Thuill.	Silver grass fields of open drifting sands
Rough sheep fescue	Festuca heteropachys ( St.-Yves ) Patzke ex Auquier	Rock grass, sandy grassland
Pale sheep fescue	Festuca pallens host.	Rock band lawns, acidic dry lawns
Dune sheep fescue	Festuca polesica Zapal.	Coastal sand schiller grass lawns, grass carnation corridors, silver grass corridors of open drifting sands, blue schiller grass sand steppes
Sand sheep fescue	Festuca psammophila ( Hack. Ex Čelak. ) Fritsch	Blue schiller grass sand steppes, short-lived ruderal meadows
Sheep fescue	Festuca vaginata Waldst. & Kit. ex Willd.	Blue grass sand-steppes

use

Sheep fescue mostly occurs in extreme locations where more demanding forage grasses no longer thrive and they cannot be displaced by them. Even sheep are reluctant to eat them. The hay is also considered to be inferior. Sheep fescue often hampers the exchange of water and air in the soil with its dense stand and poorly decomposable residues. However, it is recommended as an undergrass for sunny, dry locations on nutrient-poor soils. The type in seed mixtures is also important for stabilizing the ground on dry slopes and embankments.

swell

literature

Jürke Grau , Bruno P. Kremer, Bodo M. Möseler, Gerhard Rambold, Dagmar Triebel: Grasses. Sweet grasses, sour grasses, rushes and grass-like families in Europe (= Steinbach's natural guide ). New, edit. Special edition edition. Mosaik, Munich 1996, ISBN 3-576-10702-9 .
Jürgen Dengler: Standard list of the narrow-leaved fescue family (Festuca ovina agg. And F. rubra agg.) In Germany. Lüneburg 2000, PDF file.
MJ Wilkinson, CA Stace: A new taxonomic treatment of the Festuca ovina L. aggregate (Poaceae) in the British Isles. In: Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society. Volume 106, No. 4, 1991, pp. 347-397, DOI: 10.1111 / j.1095-8339.1991.tb02298.x .

Individual evidence

^ Henning Haeupler, Thomas Muer: picture atlas of the fern and flowering plants of Germany . Ed .: Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (= The fern and flowering plants of Germany . Volume 2 ). Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart (Hohenheim) 2000, ISBN 3-8001-3364-4 , pp. 663-667 .
^ Ernst Klapp , Wilhelm Opitz von Boberfeld : Pocket book of grasses . Recognition and determination, location and socialization, evaluation and use. 12th revised edition. Paul Parey, Berlin / Hamburg 1990, ISBN 3-489-72710-X .

Web links

Commons : Festuca ovina - album with pictures, videos and audio files

Distribution of the species group in Germany

[Bildatlas-1] Henning Haeupler, Thomas Muer: picture atlas of the fern and flowering plants of Germany . Ed .: Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (= The fern and flowering plants of Germany . Volume 2 ). Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart (Hohenheim) 2000, ISBN 3-8001-3364-4 , pp. 663-667 .

[Klapp-2] Ernst Klapp , Wilhelm Opitz von Boberfeld : Pocket book of grasses . Recognition and determination, location and socialization, evaluation and use. 12th revised edition. Paul Parey, Berlin / Hamburg 1990, ISBN 3-489-72710-X .