158 



TRIANDRIA. DIGYNIA. Festuca. , 



4* * m 



decum'bens. F. Panicle upright : spikets nearly egg-shaped^ awnless : 



calyx larger than the florets : straw lying down* See 

 Poa decumbens. 



pinna'ta. F. Spikets sitting: straw undivided: awns shorter than 



the blossoms. Pollich. 



Barr.25-Pet. u. gram. ital.3. \-Wieg. 1. 10-C. B.pr. 18* 

 1. and th. 133-Mont. id-Scheuch. 1. 7. //. 



Plant smooth, yellowish green. Lower leaves now and then 

 somewhat hairy. Florets from 6' ro 12. Huds. Spike 4 or 5 inches 

 'long: Spikets Hot 10. Calyx 8, 10, or 12-flowered. Bloss. 

 outer valve with 5 or 7 strong ribs, ending in an awn, a little 

 hairy at the edge ; inner doubled down at the edge, with a rib 

 along each side fringed witn hairs, Awn hardly \ the length of 

 the blossom. 



Bromns pinnatus. Link. Spiked 

 Chalky soils. Dry hilly woodlands. Ne 

 ton, Yorkshire. Teesdale. P. J 



Festuca pinnata. Huds. 

 Fescue* 



Nunning- 





sylvat'ica. F. Spikets sitting: straw undivided; awns as long as the 



blossom. Pollich. 



Leers 10. 3-Wieg. 1. 11-jF/. dan. l6±-Bar. 83. 2-Pet. ii. 



gram 



ital. 



o 



left 



Leaves flat, fringed with long white hairs. M 



Straw slender, joints woolly. Spike-stalk slender, weak, often 

 drooping. Wigel. It has the habit of a Bromus, the artificial 

 characters of a Triticum^ (see Tr'ttic. canin.) but in its structure 

 it is truly a Festuca. St. The straight hairs on the leaves dis- 



constant Infertility ; supposing that to be the most certain criterion of an 



hybrid plant ; and from its resemblance both to F. elatior var. pratensis, 

 and to Lolium fcftntie; I impute its origin to an intercourse between these 

 two plants. It should seem to be the Festuca lotiacia of Hudson, but 

 that I am confident it never originated from the seeds of F.jluitans. The 

 valves of the calyx are very unequal, the interior one being very small* 

 and in some specimens which 1 have examined, scarcely discernible, so 

 that it appears to be nearly allied to Lolium. Admiring the appearance ot 

 this grass when it first occurred to me, and thinking it likely to become a 

 good grass for cultivation, I transplanted some roots into my garden. T nc 

 same season I fenced round with hurdles a considerable patch of it, which 

 I found growing in a close in my own occupation, with a view to save the 

 seed. But when I came to gather it, I was much disappointed, not find- 

 ing a single seed in any of the spikes. Supposing this might have been 

 owing to accident, I increased what I had in my garden till it occupied a 

 plat of six feet square. It grew well and produced a full crop of flower- 

 ing spikes- The stamens were apparently perfect, and shed a large quan- 

 tity of pollen, and the pistils were protruded and expanded, as if in a 

 state fit to receive impregnation, but not a single seed was formed. Thi* 



has been its annual process for a number of years.' ' Mr. Swayne. 



