Festuca fasciculata

Festuca fasciculata Forssk. (Poaceae) is a slender, densely tufted perennial bunchgrass of the Mediterranean and Macaronesian regions, distributed from the Iberian Peninsula and Morocco east through North Africa to the Levant and Arabia, and reaching the Canary Islands and Madeira. Plants form compact intravaginal tussocks 20-60 cm tall, lacking rhizomes and with persistent fibrous old sheaths at the base. Leaf blades are very fine, setaceous and tightly inrolled, 0.3-0.8 mm in diameter, grey-green and shorter than the culms; ligules are short truncate membranes and auricles are absent. The inflorescence is a narrow, contracted panicle 5-15 cm long with short ascending branches bearing several four- to seven-flowered spikelets 6-10 mm long that are often suffused with violet. Lemmas are awned to about half their length; the caryopsis is small and falls free with the persistent palea. It grows on open stony slopes, garrigue, sandy soils and rocky pastures, generally below 1500 m elevation.