A moderately large genus of temperate regions of the world. 



1. Blades involute; lemmas lanceolate, with awns 1-4 mm. long 1. F. rubra. 



1, Blades flat for at least a part of their length; lemmas elliptic, awnless, acute 

 2. F. obtusa. 



1. Festuca rubra L. Red fescue. Fig. 79. 



Tufted perennial; culms 1-5 dm. long, 0.5-1 mm. thick, usually decumbent at 

 the base, reddish-fibrillose and subrhizomatous, otherwise erect; ligules extremely 

 short to obsolete; panicles interrupted-spikelike (or more lax with a few very 

 short ascending branches in the lower part floriferous nearly to their bases), 

 4-12 cm. long; pedicels 1-2 mm. long, appressed; spikelets laterally compressed, 

 3- to 5-flowered; lemmas lanceolate, very slightly (if at all) keeled near the apex, 

 marginally thin and revolute, apically long-tapered, acute with an awn 1-4 mm. 

 long, the lowest with bodies 5—7 mm. long. 



In wet meadows, bogs and marshes, rare in highest parts of Madera Canyon, 

 Davis Mts. in the Tex. Trans-Pecos and Ariz. (Apache and Coconino cos.), 

 summer; widespread in the cooler parts of the N. Hemis., in Am. s. in the mts. 

 to S. C, Ala. and Mex. 



2. Festuca obtusa Biehler. Nodding fescue. 



Tufted perennial; culms 5-1 1 dm. long, 1-2 mm. thick, basally shortly decum- 

 bent, usually geniculate at the lower nodes; blades 3-8 mm. broad, flat at least 

 part of their length; panicles 12-25 cm. long, usually less than half as thick, more 

 or less open, nodding, with several branches, the long lower ones naked in at 

 least the basal two-thirds to three-fourths their lengths; pedicels 2-4 mm. long, 

 appressed; spikelets turgid, 2- to 5-flowered; lemmas elliptical, not at all keeled, 

 convex, marginally thin, eventually revolute, the lowest lemmas 3.5-4.5 mm. 

 long, awnless, apically acute (the angle broad, blunt), eventually turning greenish- 

 stramineous, the lateral nerves very obscure. 



Scarce in woods, on shores of ponds and alluvial soil along streams, in Okla. 

 (Alfalfa Co.) and in e. Tex., spring; e. U.S., w. to N.D., S.D., Neb., Kan., Okla. 

 and Tex. 



4. Puccinellia Parl, Alkali-grass 



Low pale smooth tufted annuals or perennials with narrow to open panicles; 

 spikelets several-flowered, usually terete or subterete, the rachilla disarticulating 

 above the glumes and between the florets; glumes unequal, shorter than the first 

 lemma, obtuse or acute, rather firm, often scarious at the tip, the first 1 -nerved 

 or sometimes 3-nerved, the second 3-nerved; lemmas usually firm, rounded on 

 the back, obtuse or acute, rarely acuminate, usually scarious and often erose at 

 the tip, glabrous or puberulent toward base, rarely pubescent on the nerves, 

 5-nerved, the parallel nerves indistinct or rarely prominent; palea about as long 

 as the lemma or somewhat shorter. 



About 100 species in the North Temperate Zone and in South Africa. 



1. Lemmas pubescent on the nerves for one half to three fourths their length; 

 dwarf annual 1. P. Parishii. 



1. Lemmas glabrous or (if pubescent) the hairs not confined to the nerves; 



perennials (2) 



2(1). Lemmas 2 mm. long or less; anthers 0.5-0.8 mm. long; lower panicle 



branches usually reflexed, spikelet-bearing mainly near the tip 



2. P. distans. 



2. Lemmas usually 2.5-3.2 mm. long; anthers usually more than 0.8 mm. long; 



lower panicle branches often erect, usually spikelet-bearing most of 

 their length 3. P. Nuttalliana. 



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