1^ -JT^ --^T-'- — 



20 CONTEIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 



upper o-iuTved, 3.5 mm. long; lemma liuear-lanceolate, faintly 5-nerve(l, 3 to 1^.5 

 mm. lon^, .sparaely short-pubesceiit, attenuate into a ^lender awn 6 to 11 mm. 

 long; palea lancoolate, obtuse or acutifih, nearl}* as lonj; as th(^ lemma, ciliate at 

 the apex; t^tameii 1. {Pkatj: VII.) 



This species ranges from Norfolk County, Virginia (Kearney), souLh to Florida, 



thence westward to Texai^ and northward into Arkansas and Indian Territory 

 (Palmer). 



Explanation of Plate.— Dnuvn fruin Rovcrchoii'ti Texas Mpeciinen colluiitedin 1^82. Plant ono- 

 half natural size; details onlargod live times. 



Sub^^enus IL Eufestuca Griweb. 



Eufestuca Gri^eb. Spic Fl, UumeL 2: 482. 1844. 



Perennials, often denriely tufted; stamens and wtigmas projecting during anthesis; 

 stigmas plumuae, the branches toothed, bilateral. 



13. Festuca rubra L, 



Festiica rubra L. Sp. PL 1: 74. 1753. ''Habitat in Europae pratis siccis." 

 Festuca vallicola Rydb. Mem. N. Y. But. Gaid. 1: 57. 1900. Type in the Her- 

 barium of tlie New York Botanical Garden; a duplicate in the National Herbarium, 

 collected at Silver Bow, Montana, by Ryd])erg (no. 2108). 



DESCRIPTION. 



Stems from elongated or sometimes short creeping rootstocks, in the latter case 

 somewhat tufted; culms erect, very smooth, 40 to 00 cm. high, 3 or 4-jointed; sheaths 

 very smooth, shorter than tlie internodes; ligule scarious, short and truncate; bla<les 

 very smootli, soft, tlie basal <>nrs loosely involute, those of the ctdm typically Hat, 

 but in Ameri<'an forms usually folded or involute; panicle 5 t<» 20 cm. long, usually 

 contracted and narrow; rays mostly erect, iiarrovv, scabrous on the angles, the lower 

 ones usually with a short basal branch; spikelets usually 4 to 6-flowered, rarely 10- 

 flowered, mostly 7 to 8 mui. long, pale green or m(^re or less glaucous, often purple- 

 tinged; joints of the rachilla smooth; glmuos smooth, the lr)\ver 1-nerved, shorter 

 than the 3-nerved upper one; lejnma linear-lanceolate, convex, obscurely 5-nerved, 

 5 to 7 mm. long, smooth or Kcal>rous toward the apex, bearing a scabrous awn rarely 

 as long, usually about half as loTig. 



Festuca rubra is much less ric^h in subspecies than is F. ovina, and these subspecies 

 are for the most part but ill defined. It necessarily results, therefore, that under 

 the species proper must be grouped plants of somewhat diverse aspect. Indeed, it 

 may be a more philosophical treatment to reduce most of the subsi)ei'ies to the spe- 

 cies, instead of keeping them up as is done by*most European botanists. The prob- 

 lem is complicated by the fact that nmch of the North American rvbra differs from 

 the typical plant of Europe, more especially in the fact that the culm leaves tend to 

 be involute rather than flat, in this respect appr<iaching F. rubra trirhoplu/lla (Ducros) 

 Gaud. This slight differences surely not sufhcient, however, to justify tlie erection 

 of a new species for the Rocky Mountain form as proposed by Doctor Ilydberg, even 

 were the character constant, whicli is not the case. 



Festuca rubra ranges in North America along the Atlantic seaboard from Greenland 

 to Virginia; on the Pacific side it is abundant along the seashore fi'om Alaska to 

 California, and inland to the Rocky Mountains south as far as Colorado. 



The specimens referred to as F. ovina tracht/phylla Hack., F. ovina dnrinsmla (L. ) 

 Hack., F. ovina bonkrii Hack., F. amdhystlna L,, and F, rxibra tnchopJnjUa Gaud, by 

 Doctor Beal in Grasses of North America, clearly are Festuca rubra. Of the speci- 

 mens referred to F. ru6ra /a/Ztu. Hack., the Anderson specimen is F ovina higrata 

 Hack.; the Howell specimen, F. rubra. " 



