Festuca. CLXI. GRAMINEit:. Gil 



lower palea cordate, bifid at the apex, usually awned a little below 

 the tip, upper palea couduplicate, ciliate on the margin ; scales 

 ovate, smooth. 



1. B. SECALiNUs. Cheat. Che;^s. 



,Sf'. smooth, erect, 3f high ; Its. flat, rough at the edge and above; sheaths 

 veined, smooth ; slip, laciniate ; panicle spreading, the branches mostly simple, 

 each bearing 1 — 2 spikelets ; spikdets ovate, compressed, about lO-flowered, large, 

 2-ranked, oval, api^earing not unlike short heads of wheat. Flowers distinct, 

 awn very short. — ® A handsome grass in fields, often among wheat. June. § 



2. B. ARVENSis. (B. mollis of Am. auth.7) Soft Brome Grass. 



Boat ® ; St. erect, mostly pubescent, 1 — 2f high ; Its. and sheaths do-miy- 

 pubescent; panicle erect, close, compound, 3 — 4' long; spikekts oblong-ovate, 

 slightly compressed, tomentose, 5 — lO-flowered; yZs. elliptical; lower palea oh- 

 long-lanceolate, 7- veined, with a straight awn nearly its length. A coarse grass, 

 in fields and roadsides. June, July. ^ 



3. B. PURGANs, (Canadensis, ciliatus and pubescens, oi Linn., Miihl., ^-c.) 

 St. terete, rather slender, simple, erect, 2 — 4f high, nodes blackish ; Ivs. 



broadly linear, flat, rough-edged, more or less pubescent, striate, 6 — 12' by 3 — 5"; 

 sheaths more or less pilose with deflexed hairs ; panicle large, erect, 5 — 8' long, 

 finally nodding, branches in 2s — 4s, compound, scabrous-pubescent; spiJcelcts 

 numerous, lance-ovoid, subterete, 7 — 11-flowered, pedicellate, 9 — 13" long, acute 

 at each end ; Jls. imbricated, lower palea pubescent, longer than its straight awn 

 upper green at edge and beautifully ciliate. — % Fields and woods, U. S. and 

 Brit. Am. Jn., Jl. — Varies in size, pubescence, &c., but its forms can scarcely 

 be characterized even as varieties. — A coarse, showy grass, of little value. 



35. CERATOCHLOA. Palis. 



Gr. Kepa;, Treparoi, a horn, x^""^! srass. 



Panicle simple ; spikelets lanceolate, compressed, many-flowered ; 

 glumes shorter than the flowers, paleae bificl-toothed, the lower one 

 mucronate between the teeth ; fruit coated, furrowed, 3-horned. 



C. UNiLoiDE-s. Palis. 



St. 1 — 2f high; lis. lance-linear, pubescent, veined; sheaths bearded at the 

 throat ; slip, ovate ; panicle small, nodding, spreading, branches in pairs ; spike- 

 lets oblong-lenceolate, pedicels hairy ; glumes nearly equal, acuminate, striate ; 

 ■palea unequal, lanceolate, acuminate, margined ; sta. 3. — River bottoms, Penn., 

 Car. 



3G. FESTUCA. 



A Latin name for the shoot or stalk of a plant. 



Spikelets oblong, acute at each end, subterete ; glumes 2, unequal, 

 shorter than the flowers ; paleae lanceolate, lower one sharply acumi- 

 nate or awned at the extremity ; caryopsis coated. 



1. F. TENELLA. Willd. Slender Fescue Grass. 



St. filiform, wiry, olten growing in tufts and genictilate at base, 6 — 12' 

 high ; Irs. erect, linear-.setaceous, 2 — 3' long ; sheatlis subpubescent, with lace- 

 rated stipules ; panicle simple, contracted, rather secund, branches alone or in 

 pairs; spikelets 5 — 7-flowered, with subulate, subequal glumes, at length brown- 

 ish ; fls. subulate, longer than their awns. — (T) Sandy fields, N. Eng. to 111., S. to 

 Car. June. 



2. F. Ei,ATiOR. Toll Fescue Grass. 



St. smooth, 3 — 4f high; Ivs. lanceolate, smooth, rough-edged, a foot long, 

 on smooth, loose sheaths; panicle drooping, very branching, loosely spreading, 

 Dianches in pairs; spiketrts lance-ovate, acute, 4 — 6-flowcrcd, 6 — 8" long, race- 

 mose on the branches; lovxr glume shorter; lower palea acuminate or mucro- 

 nate. — A fine grass, in meadows, U. S. and Can. June. 



3. F. PRATENsis. Huds. Meadovj Fescue Grass. 



St. smooth, 2 — 3f high ; Ivs. lance-linear, veined, smooth, rough-edged, 

 52 



