GENUS 98. 



GRASS FAMILY. 



269 



keeled ; flowering scales membranous, narrow, rounded on the back, 5-nerved, usually acute, 

 and generally awned at the apex. Palet scarcely shorter than the scale. Stamens 1-3. 

 Styles very short, distinct. Stigmas plumose. Grain glabrous, elongated, often adherent to 

 the scale or palet. [Latin, stalk or straw.] 



A genus of about 100 species, widely distributed, particularly numerous in temperate regions. 

 Type species : Festuca ovina L. 



Spikelets perfect ; stigma-branches toothed, bilateral. 



Empty scales membranous, green, narrow, the second one 3-5-nerved. 

 Leaf-blades involute or folded, i" wide or less. 

 Annuals ; stamens i or 2. 



Awn not longer than flowering scale; spikelets s-many-flowered. i. F.octoflora. 

 Awn more than twice as long as flowering scale ; spikelets 2-5-flowered. 



First empty scale half as long as the second or less. 2. F. Myuros. 



First empty scale more than half as long as the second. 3. F. sciurea. 



Perennials ; stamens 3. 



Innovations extravaginal ; plants with rootstocks or stolons. 4. F. rnbra. 



Innovations intravaginal ; plants densely tufted, no rootstocks or stolons. 



Awns more than half as long as membranous flowering scales. 5. F. occidentalis. 

 Awns less than one-half as long as the coriaceous flowering scales. 

 Flowering scales short-awned ; leaf-blades setaceous. 



Culms 8' tall or more ; culm blades long. 6. F. ovina. 



Culms 6' long or less ; culm blades short. 7. F. brachyphylla. 



Flowering scales awnless ; leaf-blades capillary. 8. F. capillata. 



Leaf-blades flat, 2" wide or more. 



Flowering scales awnless or short-awned. 



Flowering scales 2^/2" -z 



long, spikelets 5-io-flowered. 



9. F. elatior. 



Flowering scales 2" long or less, spikelets 3-6-flowered. 



Spikelets very broad ; panicle branches spikelet-bearing from middle or below. 



10. F. Shortii. 



Spikelets lanceolate; branches elongated, spikelets at the end. n. F.nutans. 

 Flowering scales with an awn twice their length or more. 12. F.gigantea. 



Empty scales broad, scarious, with broad hyaline margins, thin, i-nerved ; base of the culm 



clothed with dry leafless sheaths. 13- F> altaica. 



Spikelets unisexual; stigma-branches arising from all sides; dioecious. 14. F.confinis. 



i. Festuca octoflora Walt. Slender Fescue- 

 grass. Fig. 648. 



Festnca octoflora Walt. Fl. Car. Si. 1788. 

 Festuca tcnella Willd. Enum. i : 113. 1809. 



Culms 4'-i8' tall, erect, from an annual root, slender, 

 rigid, simple, smooth and glabrous. Sheaths usually 

 shorter than the internodes ; ligule very short; blades 

 ii'-3' long, involute ; raceme or simple panicle often 

 one-sided, i'-6' in length, contracted, its branches erect, 

 or rarely ascending; spikelets 6-i3-flo\vered, 3"-s" 

 long; empty scales acute, smooth, the first I -nerved, 

 more than half the length of the 3-nerved second one ; 

 flowering scales, exclusive of awns, \\"-2\" long, 

 usually very scabrous, acuminate into an awn nearly as 

 long as the body, or sometimes awnless ; stamens 2. 



Dry sandy soil, Quebec to British Columbia, south to 

 Florida, Texas and California. June-Aug. 



2. Festuca Myuros L. Rat's-tail Fescue-grass. 



Fig. 649. 



Festuca Myuros L. Sp. PL 74. 1753. 



Smooth, glabrous, culms i-2 tall, erect from an 

 annual root, slender, simple. Sheaths often shorter 

 than the internodes, the upper sometimes enclosing the 

 base of the panicle ; ligule ' long, truncate ; blades 

 2'-$' long, subulate, involute, erect ; panicle usually one- 

 sided, 4'-! 2' in length, contracted, sometimes curved, 

 its branches appressed; spikelets 3-6- flowered ; empty 

 scales very unequal, acute, smooth, the first i-nerved, 

 less than half as long as the 3-nerved second one; 

 flowering scales, exclusive of the awns, 2"-3" long, 

 narrow, scabrous, acuminate into an awn much longer 

 than the body; stamen i. 



In waste places and fields. New Hampshire to New Jersey 

 and Ohio. Also on the Pacific coast. Naturalized from 

 Europe. Mouse-tail, Capon's-tail grass. June-July. 



