Overview and comparative analysis of Festuca species dominant in extremely dry sandy grasslands of the Great Plain and important from a grassland management perspective
https://doi.org/10.55725/gygk/2025/23/1/16498
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Abstract
Among the narrow-leaved Festuca taxa occurring in the Carpathian Basin, those inhabiting extremely dry lowland habitats are mainly species with a continuous sclerenchyma ring in their leaves, or in which the sclerenchyma becomes ring-shaped by the end of the vegetation period. The most characteristic representative of this group is Festuca vaginata, but recent studies have also confirmed the presence of Festuca pseudovaginata and Festuca tomanii in these habitats.
These species are of high importance for grassland management, as they are dominant components of dry steppe vegetation. In this paper, we provide a comparative and critical review of the three taxa, summarizing previous literature and presenting morphological data aimed at identifying the most reliable diagnostic characters for species delimitation. Our results indicate that the position of the fourth spikelet on both the terminal and the longest panicle branches are among the most informative morphological traits for distinguishing the species. Within the spikelets, the length of the outer glume in the second floret proved to be the most consistent and useful character, which is recommended for practical identification purposes as well.