Festuca occidentalis is a species of grass known as western fescue. It is native to much of the northern half of North America and is most widely distributed in the west. It is most often found in forest and woodland habitat. The specific epithet occidentalis is Latin, meaning "western".
Festuca occidentalis is a tufted fescue that lacks rhizomes. The smooth and shiny culms are NaNcm (-2,147,483,648inches) tall. Culms have two exposed nodes and have glabrous internodes. The shoots are intravaginal.
The leaf sheaths are glabrescent and rounded with a prominent midvein. The position of the auricle is marked by a distinct swelling. The minutely erose ligule is NaNmm long. The basal leaves are capillary and NaNcm (-2,147,483,648inches) long. In cross section, the leaf blades are NaNmm wide and NaNmm thick, with three large veins and one to five ribs. The basal offshoots are erect, arising from the tops of the pale brown sheaths.
The lax, subsecund, flexuous panicle is NaNcm (-2,147,483,648inches) long. The panicle has two unequal and strongly reflexed branches at the lower node, with branches NaNcm (-2,147,483,648inches) long bearing minute trichomes. The three to five flowered spikelets are NaNmm long. The rachilla is visible at anthesis and internodes are NaNmm long. The unequal glumes are narrow and acute. The lower glume is NaNmm long with one vein, and the upper glume is NaNmm long with one to two veins. The membranaceous, oblong to lanceolate lemmas are NaNmm long, with slender, flexuous awns NaNmm long. Paleas have inflexed sides that meet in the middle, measuring NaNmm long. Lodicules are toothed and lack trichomes. Anthers are NaNmm long. The ovary is pubescent at its apex.[1] [2]
It flowers from late June into July.
Festuca occidentalis occurs in the northern United States from the Bruce Peninsula to northern Michigan and eastern Wisconsin, and from Montreal and British Columbia south to Wyoming and California.[1]
It grows in dry to moist woods, thickets, and rocky slopes. It grows up to 3100m (10,200feet) in elevation.[3]