GRASS FAMILY 



223 



19. Festuca scabrella Torr. 

 Buttalo Bunch-grass. Fig-. 522. 



Festuca scabrella Torr.; Hook. Fl. Bor. Am. 2: 252. 1840. 



Melica hallii Vasey, Bot. Gaz. 6: 296. 1881. 



Festuca scabrella major Vasey, Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 1 : 



278. 1893. 

 Festuca campestris Rydb. Mem. N. Y. Bot. Gard. 1 : 57. 



1900. 

 Festuca hallii Piper, Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 10: 31. 1906. 



Culms densely tufted, erect, smooth or scabrous, 

 30-100 cm. tail : upper sheaths scabrous, the 

 lower smooth, enlarged at base; blades firm, in- 

 volute, pale or glaucous, 10-30 cm. long, sharp- 

 pointed, usually scabrous; panicle narrow, 3-15 

 cm. long, the rays solitary or in pairs, sca- 

 brous, ascending or appressed, spikelet-bearing near 

 the end : spikelets oblong, 8-12 mm. long, 4-6- 

 flowered ; glumes unequal, smooth, or scabrous 

 near the apex, the first lanceolate, 1-nerved, 7-8 

 mm. long, the second ovate-lanceolate, 3-nerved, 

 8-9 mm. long ; lemmas firm, keeled above, scaberu- 

 lous, 8-10 mm. long, acute, or short-awned. 



Rockv cliffs and dry woods, in the Arid Transition 

 Zone; B'ritish Columbia to Oregon and Colorado. May- 

 July. Type locality: Rocky Mountains. 



20. Festuca rubra L. 

 Red Fescue. Fig. 523. 



Festuca rubra L. Sp. PI. 74. 1753. 



Festuca vallicola Rydb. Mem. N. Y. Bot. Gard. 1: 57. 1900. 



Culms erect from a decumbent or somewhat creeping 

 base, smooth, 40-100 cm. tall ; sheaths smooth, the 

 lowermost usually purple ; blades smooth, soft, usually 

 folded or involute; panicle 3-20 cm. long, usually con- 

 tracted and narrow, the rays mostly erex;t; spikelets 4-6- 

 flowered, pale green or glaucous, often purple-tinged ; 

 lemmas S-7 mm. long, smooth, or scabrous toward apex, 

 bearing a scabrous awn usually about half as long. 



Meadows, hills, and marshes, in the cooler parts of the northern 

 hemisphere, extending south in the Coast Ranges to Monterey and 

 in the Sierra Nevada to the San Bernardino Mountains. In the 

 sand of the seacoast the plants are often glaucous. June-Aug. 

 Type locality, European. 



Festuca rubra subvillosa Mert. & Koch in Rohling, Deutsch. Fl. 

 ed. 3. 1: 654. 1823. F. kitaibcliana Schult. Mant. 2: 398. 1824. 

 F. rubra pubescens Vasey; Beal, Grasses N. Am. 2: 607. 1896. 

 Lemmas villous. Alaska to Greenland and northern Europe. In- 

 troduced along the Columbia River (Portland; west Klickitat 

 County). 



21. Festuca viridula \ asey. 

 IMountain Bunch-grass. Fig. 524. 



Festuca liridula Vasey, U. S. Dept. Agr. Div. Bot. Bull. 13= 

 pi. 9i. 1893. 



Culms rather loosely tufted, erect, smooth, 60-100 

 cm. high ; sheaths smooth ; blades erect, 2 mm. wide 

 or less, soft, scaberulous above, often more or less 

 involute; panicle loose and open, 10-15 cm. long, the 

 branches ascending; spikelets 3-6-flowered ; glumes 

 membranaceous, smooth, about 3 mm. long ; lemmas 

 firm, membranaceous, keeled toward the apex, acute 

 or somewhat mucronate, 6-7 mm. long. 



Subalpine meadows in the Hudsonian Zone; Washington to 

 central California. July-Aug. Type locality: California. 



