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 pl ace of valid publication of the name; the location of type specimens, when known, and whether we have examined them; synonymy; data on morph ology, anatomy, and chromosome number(s); habitat and distribution inf ormation; subgeneric classification; taxonomic notes; and more than 20 0 images. The data are available on the Internet via the World Wide We b (WWW) at http://www.keil.ukans.edu/delta/ or by anonymous file trans fer protocol (ftp) from ftp.keil.ukans.edu, as natural-language descri ptions and as an INTKEY interactive identification and information-ret rieval package for MS-Windows. INTKEY and other DELTA programs have be en used to assess biodiversity and have supported recognition of sever al species that have often been placed into synonymy (e.g., Festuca ca lligera and Festuca earlei), a status change for Festuca idahoensis su bsp. roemeri comb.nov., placing Festuca brachyphylla subsp. breviculmi s into synonymy with F. brachyphylla subsp. coloradensis, and suggeste d a taxonomy that is presented in an annotated list. Phenetic and clad istic analyses suggest that the traditional generic limits of Festuca and Lolium should be retained and four subgenera recognized within Fes tuca, subgg. Festuca, Leucopoa, Schedonorus, and Subulatae, with sects . Subulatae and Obtusae.