Festuca extremiorientalis Ohwi

This taxon is sometimes treated as an Asian subspecies of the North American Festuca subulata. However, F. subulata is considered here to be a different species, separable by its shorter ligule 0.2–1 mm, weakly 3-veined lemmas, longer awns 5–17 mm, and scabrid palea keels.

Plant loosely tufted; shoots extravaginal. Culms 60–100 cm tall, nodes (2–)3(–4). Leaf sheaths glabrous; auricles absent; leaf blades flat, soft, 10–30 cm × 4–10(–13) mm, glabrous, margins smooth or scaberulous; adaxial to abaxial sclerenchyma strands present, abaxial sclerenchyma in narrow discrete strands; ligule 1.1–2.5(–3.5) mm. Panicle loose, nodding, (8–)12–30 cm; branches (3–)7–15 cm, scabrid, (1–)2 per node. Spikelets 5–8(–9.5) mm; florets 3–4(–5); glumes smooth or scaberulous on midvein; lower glume narrowly lanceolate to lanceolate, 2.5–3.5(–4.5) mm; upper glume lanceolate to broadly lanceolate, 3.5–6 mm; rachilla internodes 0.8–1.1 mm, pubescent; lemmas 5–6(–7) mm, strongly 5-veined, scabrid, apex entire or slightly notched; awns 4–8 mm; palea 5–6(–7) mm, keels smooth. Anthers 1–1.5(–2) mm. Ovary apex moderately or densely hairy. 2n = 28. Fl. and fr. Jun–Aug.

Gansu, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Nei Mongol, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Sichuan, Yunnan [Japan, Korea, E Russia].

Forests, valleys, grasslands, riversides; 900–2800 m.

Festuca subulata Trinius var. japonica Hackel; F. subu-lata subsp. japonica (Hackel) Koyama & Kawano.