10.06 CELTICA F.M. Vázquez & Barkworth
Francisco M. Vázquez

Plants perennial; cespitose, not rhizomatous. Culms 100–250 cm, erect, smooth, glabrous, uppermost node often exposed; basal branching intravaginal; prophylls exceeding the subtending leaf sheaths, awned, ciliate or glabrous. Leaves basally concentrated; cleistogenes not developed; sheaths open to the base, smooth, glabrous except at the throat; auricles absent; ligules membranous, rounded, abaxial surfaces densely pubescent, margins ciliate; blades flat to involute, abaxial surfaces smooth, adaxial surfaces scabrous or hirtellous. Inflorescences panicles, nodding, open. Spikelets 25–32 mm, with 1 floret; rachillas not prolonged beyond the base of the floret; disarticulation above the glumes, beneath the floret. Glumes lanceolate, exceeding the floret, 3-veined; florets 14–16 mm, terete to laterally compressed; calluses sharp, strigose; lemmas coriaceous, evenly pubescent, hairs 1–2 mm, margins flat, overlapping at maturity, apices bifid, awned from between the teeth, teeth scarious; awns persistent, twice-geniculate, first segment twisted, terminal segment straight; paleas subequal to or longer than the lemmas, membranous, dorsally pubescent, veins forming 2 awnlike extensions; lodicules 3, glabrous, lanceolate, posterior lodicule larger than the lateral lodicules; anthers 3, penicillate; ovaries glabrous; styles 2. Caryopses fusiform; hila linear, about as long as the caryopses. x = 12. Named for the Celts, the genus being most abundant in the portion of the Iberian Peninsula to which the Celts were driven by the Romans.

Celtica is a monospecific genus that was formerly included in Stipa or Macrochloa.

SELECTED REFERENCES Darke, R. 1999. The Color Encyclopedia of Ornamental Grasses: Sedges, Rushes, Restios, Cat-Tails, and Selected Bamboos. Timber Press, Portland, Oregon, U.S.A. 325 pp.; Vázquez, F.M. and M.E. Barkworth. 2004. Resurrection and emendation of Macrochloa (Gramineae: Stipeae). Bot. J. Linn. Soc. 144:483–495.

1. Celtica gigantea (Link) F.M. Vázquez & Barkworth
Giant Feathergrass

Plants forming dense clumps. Culms 1–2.5 m tall, 5–7 mm thick. Prophyll awns to 1 cm, ciliate or glabrous, projecting from the throats of the subtending leaves. Sheaths mostly glabrous, throats ciliate; ligules about 0.5 mm, pubescent dorsally, ciliate; blades to 70 cm, involute, abaxial surfaces smooth, adaxial surfaces scabrous or hirtellous, hairs about 0.3 mm, apices acute. Panicles 30–50 cm, open, lower nodes with more than 1 primary branch, upper nodes with 1 branch, axils glabrous; branches strongly divergent; pedicels equaling or exceeding the spikelets. Glumes glabrous, smooth, 3-veined; lower glumes 25–32 mm; upper glumes slightly longer; florets 14–16 mm; calluses 1.5–2.5 mm; lemmas pubescent, hairs 1–2 mm, apical teeth to 6 mm; awns 6–9 cm; lateral lodicules about 1.5 mm; anthers 10–12 mm. 2n = 96.

Celtica gigantea is native to the western and southern portions of the Iberian Peninsula and northern Africa. It is grown as an ornamental in the Flora region. Darke (1999) described it as “one of the most elegant and stately of the ornamental grasses.” No attempt has been made to determine which of the infraspecific taxa is grown in the Flora region.