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MISC. PUBLICATION 200, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 



FlGUR E 101 — 



Festuca ovina. 

 Panicle, X Vi\ 

 floret, X 5 

 (Bobbins 8692, 

 Colo.) 



Hard fescue. 



on slender pedicels ; lemmas rather thin, 5 to 6 mm long, scaberulous 

 toward the apex, attenuate into a slender awn about as long or longer. 

 % —Dry rocky wooded slopes and banks, British Columbia to cen- 

 tral California, east to Wyoming, northern Michigan, 

 and western Ontario (fig. 100). 



31. Festuca ovina L. Sheep fescue. (Fig. 101.) 

 Culms densely tufted, usually 20 to 40 cm tall ; blades 

 slender, involute, from very scabrous to glabrous, the 

 innovations numerous in a basal cluster, 5 to 10 cm long 

 or sometimes longer; panicle narrow, sometimes almost 

 spikelike, 5 to 8 cm long, sometimes longer; spikelets 

 mostly 4- or 5-flowered; lemmas about 4 to 5 mm 

 long, short-awned. % (F. saximontana Rydb.; F. 

 calligera Rydb.; F. minutiflora Rydb., a rare form with 

 small florets; F. ovina var. pseudovina Hack, of Piper's 

 revision of Festuca.) — Open woods and stony slopes, North 

 Dakota to Washington and Alaska, south to Arizona 

 and New Mexico ; introduced eastward through Michigan, 

 Maine, Illinois, and South Carolina (fig. 102). Eurasia, Festuca 

 ovina, F. ovina var. duriuscula, and F. capillata are occasionally 

 cultivated in lawn mixtures. 



Festuca ovina var. duriuscula (L.) Koch 

 Blades smooth, wider and firmer than in F. 

 ovina. Qi — Maine to Iowa and Virginia; 

 introduced from Europe. 



Festuca ovina var. brachyphylla (Schult.) 

 Piper. Alpine fescue. An alpine and high 

 northern form differing in the lower culms, 

 mostly 5 to 20 cm tall, and the smooth short 

 rather lax blades. Qi (F. brachyphylla Schult. ; 

 F. ovina var. supina Hack, of Piper's re- 

 vision of Festuca.)— Rocky slopes, at high altitudes, mostly above 

 timber line in the United States, arctic regions south to San 

 Bernardino Mountains, San Francisco Mountains and, in 

 the Rocky Mountains, to northern New Mexico; also in 

 the high mountains of Vermont, New Hampshire, and 

 New York. 



Festuca ovina var. glauca (Lam.) Koch. Blue 

 fescue. Blades elongate, glaucous. % (F. glauca Lam.) — 

 Cultivated as a border plant. 



32. Festuca capillata Lam. Hair fescue. (Fig. 103.) 

 Densely tufted, more slender and lower than F. ovina; blades 

 capillary, flexuous, usually more than half as long as the culm ; 

 spikelets smaller; lemmas about 3 mm long, awnless. % 

 figure 103.- — Lawns and waste places, Newfoundland and Maine to 

 Festuca capii- North Carolina and Illinois; Oregon; introduced from 



lata. Plant, _ 



x M; floret, x Europe. 



^Newf? 33. Festuca idahoensis Elmer. Bluebunch fescue. 

 (Fig. 104.) Culms usually densely tufted in large bunches, 

 30 to 100 cm tall; blades numerous, usually elongate, very scabrous, 

 rarely smooth, filiform, involute; panicle narrow, 10 to 20 cm long, the 

 branches ascending or appressed, somewhat spreading in anthesis ; spike- 



Figure 102. — Distribution of 

 Festuca ovina. 



