Biodiversity among Festuca (Poaceae) in North America: diagnostic evidence from DELTA and clustering programs, and an INTKEY package for interactive, illustrated identification and information retrieval

Biodiversity among taxa of Festuca occurring in North America has been investigated from a revised and illustrated database developed using the DELTA software package. The database includes common names; the place of valid publication of the name; the location of type specimens, when known, and whether we have examined them; synonymy; data on morphology, anatomy, and chromosome number(s); habitat and distribution information; subgeneric classification; taxonomic notes; and more than 200 images. The data are available on the Internet via the World Wide Web (WWW) at http://www.keil.ukans.edu/delta/ or by anonymous file transfer protocol (ftp) from ftp.keil.ukans.edu, as natural-language descriptions and as an INTKEY interactive identification and information-retrieval package for MS-Windows. INTKEY and other DELTA programs have been used to assess biodiversity and have supported recognition of several species that have often been placed into synonymy (e.g., Festuca calligera and Festuca earlei), a status change for Festuca idahoensis subsp. roemeri comb.nov., placing Festuca brachyphylla subsp. breviculmis into synonymy with F. brachyphylla subsp. coloradensis, and suggested a taxonomy that is presented in an annotated list. Phenetic and cladistic analyses suggest that the traditional generic limits of Festuca and Lolium should be retained and four subgenera recognized within Festuca, subgg. Festuca, Leucopoa, Schedonorus, and Subulatae, with sects. Subulatae and Obtusae.