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Vegetative Morphology

 
Plants usually perennial, sometimes annual; cespitose, sometimes rhizomatous.
Culms 5-140 cm, hollow.
Sheaths open.
Auricles absent.
Ligules membranous, decurrent, acuminate to acute or obtuse, abaxial surfaces puberulent.
Blades flat, folded, or rolled.

Reproductive Morphology

 
Inflorescences terminal panicles, open or contracted.
Disarticulation above the glumes, below the florets.
Spikelets 3-9 mm, with (1)2(3) florets, florets bisexual or viviparous.
Rachillas hairy, usually prolonged beyond the distal floret, sometimes terminating in a highly reduced floret.
Glumes subequal to unequal, exceeding at least the lowest floret, often exceeding all florets, acute to acuminate, 1- or 3-veined.
Calluses antrorsely strigose.
Lemmas obscurely (3)5-7-veined, rounded over the back, apices truncate-erose to 2-4 toothed, awned.
Lemma awns usually attached on the lower 1/2 of the lemmas, occasionally subapical, straight to strongly geniculate, slightly to strongly twisted proximally, straight distally.
Paleas shorter than the lemmas, 2-keeled, keels often scabrous.
Lodicules 2, lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, usually entire.
Anthers 3.
Ovaries glabrous.
Styles terminal.
Caryopses oblong.
Embryos about 1/4 the length of the caryopses.

Species Distribution Maps

Deschampsia cespitosa Deschampsia alpina Deschampsia beringensis
Deschampsia brevifolia Deschampsia anadryensis Deschampsia holciformis
Deschampsia mackenzieana Deschampsia sukatschewii Deschampsia flexuosa
Deschampsia elongata Deschampsia danthonioides  

Chromosome Number(s)

x = 7

Additional Notes

Named for Louise Auguste Deschamps (1765-1842), a French naturalist.

Deschampsia is a genus of approximately 20-30 species, all of which grow in cool, damp habitats throughout the world.

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Name/Synonymy Publication Info

Deschampsia P. Beauv., Essai Agrostogr. 91 (1812). Campella Link, Hortus berol. 1:122 (1827). Podionapus Dulac, Fl. Hautes-Pyr?n?es 82 (1867). LEC: Deschampsia cespitosa [as "caespitosa"] (L.) P. Beauv. [Nash in Britton & A. Br., Ill. fl. n. U.S., ed. 2, 1:215 (1913)].

Czernaevia Turcz. ex Ledeb., Fl. ross. 2:293 (1844). TYPE: Czernaevia laevigata Turcz. ex Ledeb.

Avenella Parl., Fl. ital. 1:246 (1848). Lerchenfeldia Schur, Enum. pl. Transsilv. 753 (1866). TYPE: Avenella flexuosa (L.) Parl. [=Deschampsia flexuosa (L.) Trin.].

Treatment from

M.E. Barkworth. Deschampsia in Flora of North America, volume 24. In prep. Oxford University Press.

Fact Sheet Developed By

Pedro Oñativia Lake © 2006.