xRicuspis. TRIANDRIA. DIGYNIA. 11 J 



at the extremity j superior valve slightly ciliate on the margin. 

 Stamens 3 ; anthers much exserted, purple. Seed oblong, 

 compressed, a little gibbous, hollowed on one side, with a lateral 

 oval scar near the base. 

 Hab. In sandy fields ; common in New-Jersey, &c. In moun- 

 tain meadows of Pennsylvania, where it yields most excellent 

 crops twice a-year. Pursh. August. Red-tofi. 



The genus Tricuspis resembles the Triodia of i?. Brown 

 in many respects, but the latter differs in having a simple con- 

 tracted panicle, the calyx as long as the florets, which are naked 

 at the base, and the corolla without intermediate teeth between 

 the cusps. 



31. FESTUCA. L. 



Spikelets often more or less terete, at length com- 

 pressed, many-flowered. Calyx unequal, carinate, shorter 

 than the florets. CorolLi somewhat terete; superior valve 

 acute, mucronate, or with a short bristle at the tip; su- 

 perior valve bidentate. Seed adnate. Gen. pi. 119. 

 Nu 1 1. Gen. I. p. 72. Tr i n. Agrost. 92. F e s t u c a , 

 Schenodorus et Diplachne P. de Beativ. et 

 Roem, £s? S chit It. Panicle generally compound. 



Fescue-grass. 



1. F. Mynrus L.? panicle slender, crowded, equal; 

 spikelets about 4-flowered ; floret? subulate, awned, hairy, 

 monandrous Willd. Spec. F. p. 422 ? M i c h. Fl. I. p. &Q, 

 Pursh FL \. p. 83. Muhl. Gram. p. 1 60. Elliott Sk. 

 I. p. 169. F. quadrijlora Walt, Car. p. 81. 



Root annual, (biennial Mu h I.) Culm 6 — 12 inches long, erect, 

 geniculate near the root, smooth. Leaves 2 — 3 inches long, 

 subulate, concave, not carinate, scabrous above. Siifiule (bifid 

 or retuse M u h I.) Spikelets 4 — 7-flovvered, nearly sessile. 

 Glumes equal, very small, linear-lanceolate. Inferior valve of 

 the corolla concave, hairy, particularly towards the summit, 

 terminating in an aivn (bristle) twice as long as the valve ; su- 

 perior valve meml)ranaceous, lanceolate. Styles very short ; 

 stigmas plumose, white. Seed oblong, acute. Elliott. 



Hab. In sandy soils of New-Jersey ; growing with Air.v fira-' 

 cox. Barton. June. 



I have not examined a North-American specinnen of this 

 plant. Pursh and Michauoc suspect it to be a distinct 

 species from the European ¥. Myurus. Humboldt and 

 Bon fl land observe that the flowers are monandrous in 

 South- America, and they are so in my European specimens. 

 The characters in which our plant differs, are the hairiness of 

 the corolla and the panicle not being secund. 



