285 



Fig. 581. Festiica myuros Liiin. Sp. PI. 71. 1753. Rat's-tail 

 Fescue.— A suiootli, slender, erect annual 3 to 6 dm. high, with 

 narrow, involute leaves and contracted, usually one-sided pani- 

 cles 8 to 24 cm. long. Spikelets 3- to 6-flowered, with very unequal, 

 acute empty glumes (a), and narrow, scabrous, slender-awued 

 flowering glumes 4 to G mm. long. Awns much longer than the 

 glumes.— Fields and waste places, Massachusetts to Florida, and 

 westward to California and Washington. [Europe.] April-July. 



