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CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 



14. Festuca occidentalis Hook, 



Festucaoccide)ttalls Hook. FL Bor. Am. 2: 249. 1840. * ^ Plains and elevated grounds 

 of the Columbia near the nea. Dr. Scouler. Douglas." Authentic specimens from 

 Hooker are in the Gray Herbaiium. 



Festuca oiina polyphyUa\eif^.ey; Beal, Grasses N. A. 2: 597. 1896. Type specimen 

 in herbarium Michigan Agricultural College^ collected in the Cascade Mountains, 

 Oregon, by Howell, in 1885. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Densely tufted and i)erfectly glabrous up to the inflorescence; culms slender, shin- 

 ingj 50 to 80 cm, liigh, 2-jointed; leaf blades filiform-in volute, numerous, bright green, 

 soft, becoming longitudinally sulcate when dry, 5 to 20 cm. long, acute at the very 

 apex; ligule very small, truncate; sheaths smootli, very long, but shorter than the 

 internodes, in young plants often wholly concealing the stem; panicle loose, subse- 

 cund, flexuous, 8 to 20 cm. long, often somewhat drooping above; rays scabrous on 

 the sliarp angles, solitary or the lowest paired and very unequal; spikelets green, 

 oblong, loosely 3 to 5-flowered, 6 to 10 mm. long, mostly on slender stalks, pale 

 green, or rarely purplish; glumes unequal, variable, even on the same plant, usually 

 sharply acute or acuminate, sometimes obtuse or obtusish, the lower l^nerved, 

 2 to 2.5 mm. long, the upper 8-nerved, about one-half longer, both usually puberu- 

 lent near the apex and margins; lemma oblong-lanceolate, rather thin in texture, 5 

 to 6.5 mm. long, scaberulous toward the apex, attenuate into a slender awn about 

 as long; palea linear-lanceolate, acutish, scabrous on the nerves, the inflexed sides 

 meeting in the middle when flattened; ovary hispidulous at apex, Pj.ate VIII. 



This species has been generally misunderstood, principally owing to the character 

 assigned to the glumes of being short, obtuse, and ciliate. The Gray Herbarium 

 specimens agree perfectly with Hooker's characterization in this respect, as do some 

 recent specimens, for example, K. C. Smith's 93H, Seattle, Washington; Macoun's 85, 

 Burrard Inlet, British Columbia, and Ileller^s 3932, Montesano, Washington. This 

 character is, however, unreliable, most speciniens having longer and usually acute 

 glumes. It is a very different plant from the Japanese Festuca pauciflora Thunb. to 

 which it was referred by Thur1>er. Thnrber's description in the Botany of Call- 



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fornia applies not to Hooker's species, but to Festiiea suhtUata Trin. {F, jonesii 



Vasey.) 



Festuca occidentalis is an abundant species in open woods from British Columbia to 

 middle California, and eastward to Montana, Wyoming, and the Great Lakes. It is 

 always densely tufted, never showhig any trace of rootstocks. 



In Beat's Grasses of North America the specimens referred to Festuca rtihra hetero- 

 phylla (Lam.) Hack., and to F, rvbra longheta (ITegetschw.) Hack, are all i^. occi- 

 dentalis Hook. 



The following are representative specimens: 

 BmxisH Columbia: 



Chilliwack Valley, Macoun 2(5115, 2(5112. 

 Victoria, Macoun 171. 

 Comox, Macoun 173. 

 Yale, Macoun 88. 

 Washington: 



Blue Mountains, Horner 561. 

 Cascade Mountains, Vasey in 1889* 

 Olympia, Henderson 2198, 2177, 



Seattle, Piper 834. 

 Mount Rainier, Piper 850. 

 ■ Nisqually Valley, Allen 50. 

 Grays Harbor, Lamb 1128. 



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