NORTH AMERICAN SPECIES OF FESTUCA 



By Charles Y. Piper. 



INTRODUCTION. 



This treatment of the North American species of Festuca is based 

 primarily on the nuiterial in the National Ilerbai'hini, but through the 

 courtesy of those having* the collections in cbarge, we have been able 

 to examine the material in the Grav Herbarium, the New York Botan- 

 ical Garden, the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, the 

 California Academy of Sciences, the Michio-un Agricultural College, 

 and tht* Geological and Natural History Sui've}^ of Canada, To all of 

 these grateful acknowledgment is madt^.. 



We have taken especial care to point out clearly the material basis 

 for our interpretations of the various species that have been proposed. 

 In the cases of Festuca ovina and Ftduea ntbra reliance is placed 

 mainly on the classic work of Ilackel in his Monographia Festucarum 

 Europacaruni, aided by a fine series of authentic specimens distributed 

 by him* It is worthy of note that of the 30 native species of the 

 genus in North America, here recognized, 3 have been collected but 

 once, 2 others but twice, and a sixth species, F. rigesceiis^ has been 

 found but once north of South Ameri<*a, We have cited specimens 

 only for special reasons, and have usually included onl}^ specimens of 

 historic interest, or from numbered sets o-enerallv distributed. 



HISTORY OF THE GENTTS. 



The name Festuca first appears in l)otani('al literature, according to 

 Trinius, in Dodoens'^s work entitled ''Stirpium historiae pemptades sex, 



tjive libri XXX Aiitwerpiae, ex officina Christophori Plantini/' pub- 

 lished in 1583. Dodoens's plant ''Feiituca altera'^'^ is, according to 

 Trinius, Bromm secallnus L. Later pre-Linnjcan authors used the 

 name in various wa3\s, mostly, however, for species of Bromus. 



In the first edition of the Genera Plantarum, 1737, Linna^uis cites 

 two plates, namely, Dillenius, Catalogus Plantaruni, plate 3, which is 

 evidently some species of Bromus, and Schcuchzcr, plate o, figures 



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