Festuca

Festuca (fescue) is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the grass family Poaceae (subfamily Pooideae). They are evergreen or herbaceous perennial tufted grasses with a height range of and a cosmopolitan distribution, occurring on every continent except Antarctica. The genus is closely related to ryegrass (Lolium), and recent evidence from phylogenetic studies using DNA sequencing of plant mitochondrial DNA shows that the genus lacks monophyly. As a result, plant taxonomists have moved several species, including the forage grasses tall fescue and meadow fescue, from the genus Festuca into the genus Lolium, or alternatively into the segregate genus Schedonorus. Because the taxonomy is complex, scientists have not determined how many true species belong to the genus, but estimates range from more than 400 to over 640. Fescue pollen is a significant contributor to hay fever. The genus Festuca represents a major evolutionary line of the tribe Poeae. The ancient group has produced various segregates that possess more advanced characteristics than Festuca, including racemose inflorescences and more annual habits. The word "festuca" is a Latin word meaning "stem" or "stalk" first used by Pliny the Elder to describe a weed. The word Festuca first appears to describe grasses in Dodoens' "Stirpium historiae pemptades sex, sive libri XXX" in 1583. However, the plant Dodoens described as Festuca altera is truly Bromus secalinus. Other authors before Linnaeus used the name to describe other various species of Bromus. In the first edition of "Genera Plantarum", Linnaeus describes seven species of Festuca, five of which are truly Bromus grasses with the other two being Festuca gigantea and Festuca pratensis. In 1753 the genus is accepted as first being formally described, in Linnaeus' "Species Plantarum". Eleven species were described, with F. ovina being the type species. Of these eleven, one species was Danthonia, one Poa, and one Koeleria. The first major monograph on the genus was Hackel's "Monographia Festucarum Europaearum" in 1882.