26 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 



Perhaps no other species of grass is so polymorplious as Fesluca ovina^ the Old 

 World forms of which have been elasf=iiied into numerous categories. The North 

 American formg are far less numerous, and may be distinguij^hcd by the following key: 



KEY TO THE 8UBSPK(JIK8 OF FElSTL'CA OVINA, 



Leaf blades firm, cylindric or terete even when dried. 

 Lemmas awned. 



Leaf blades capillary ..S to .6 lunu broad. 



Plants 20 to 60 cm. high; i)anicle 2 to 12 cm. long. 



Lemmas usually scabrous or pubescent oiina. 



Lemmas hispidulous ovma sciaphila. 



Lemmas fuliaceous, the spikelets proliferous ortna ihipara. 



Plants 12 to 30 cm. high; jianicle 2 to 4 cm. long ovina sapina. 



Leaf blades broader 0.7 to I mm. broad, 7 nerved ovina duriuscala, 



I>emmas awnless , ovina capUlata. 



Leaf blades smooth, green, soft, l>ecoming longitudinally sulcate in drying. 



Culms 20 to 45 cm. high; sheaths closed only at base or!na pseudovina. 



Culms 5 to 10 cm. high; sheatlis closed their whole length or nearly. 



ovina brachyphyUa, 

 Leaf blades pale or glaucescent, firm, usually harshly scabrous. 



Sheaths long-persistent on the innovations, becoming brown and papery. 



Sheaths not becoming brown and papery. 



ovina calligera. 



Awns long, nearly e»]ualing the lemma; sheaths not becoming explanate at 

 base ovina ingrala. 



Awns short, one-fifth to one-third as long as the lennua; .sheaths becoming 

 explanate at base oirina arizonica. 



^ 



w 



b5a. Festuca ovina sciaphila (Schur) Ascli. & Graebn. 



Fesiuca sciaphila Scluirj Etuun. PI. Transs. 787. 1866. ''In Laubwaldern bei Her- 



mannstadt. Schuler, Piatra-mare bei Kronstadt. 8,000 '* Kalk.'' 

 Fesluca ovina sciaphila Asch. & Graebn. Syn. Mitteleur. Fl. 2: 468. 1900; op. cit» 



Index 41. 1903. 

 Fesluca ovina hispidula Hack. Mon. Fest. 87. 1882. '* Transsylvania (Kronstadt), 



Sik^^ia (Breslau), Austria i]if. (St. Polten)." 

 The following specimens have been examined: 



Xew York: 



Ithaca, Cotille, June 12, 1886. 



OXTAKIO: 



Gait, Ilemott, no. 21144. 

 BmTisH Columbia: * 



Esquimau, Macoan 29732. 

 Tlie last two are \n the Ilerbaruuu of the Geological and Natural History Survey 



of Canada: 



15b. Festuca ovina vivipara L. 



Festuca ovina vivij^nra L. Sp. PI. ed, 2. 1: ll>8. ]762. *' Habitat in Alpibus Lap- 

 poniae, Helvetiae, Scotiae.'^ 



Festuca dripara Smith, Fl. Brit. 1: 114. 1800. This occurs in Xorth America from 

 Greenland and Iceland to La1>rador and Newfoundland. The plant of the AVhite 

 . Mountains heretofore referred here is F. rubra proUfera, 



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