Fescue Grasses of Canada

Leila Wallenius is a reference librarian at the J. N. Desmarais Library
at Laurentian University.

Aiken and Darbyshire have produced a nice package about the 24 species
of Festuca in Canada. Included are taxonomic characteristics,
morphology, and habitat information for each species.

The key to the species is very detailed. The authors state that it was
developed to include characteristics found in immature and incomplete
specimens, in addition to complete, mature plants. As a result, users
should be careful when deciding between options.

The line drawings are excellent and will aid in identification.
Drawings include the whole plant, junction of leaf sheath and blade,
leaf cross section, glumes (if necessary), lemma, palea with
pre-anthesis anthers, and ovary, as well as any other features important
to the species.

The authors provide collection maps, which help to identify
distribution, though one may question why U.S. sites are shown. The maps
do not include any scale, and in some cases longitude and latitude are
not marked.

This is a well-done guide to Canada’s fescue grasses, but it will
serve only a limited audience, principally professional taxonomists.
Field naturalists will most likely not take advantage of the work
because of its physical size and its specialization, preferring instead
a multipurpose field guide.