ON FESTUCA HETEROPHYLLA. 49 



having ever had the right thing.* Dr. Stebler states that " gardeners 

 use various -leaved fescues for borders, &c," but does not say whether 

 the plant intended v&faUax or heterophylla. Mr. Carruthers kindly 

 showed me the original work, as well as the English translation, 

 and I take the following remark from that: — " It is said, if sown 

 in the open, to come up, but to be much less vigorous, and to 

 quickly fall off in its yield, as Langethal . . . mentions." 



I have seen a specimen of Mr. Brotherston's plant from near 

 Kelso, referred to by Mr. Britten at p. 272, and consider it to be 

 rightly named, though the specimen is scanty. Its occurrence as a 

 true native in Scotland is most improbable, and the locality (road- 

 sides) is suspicious in itself. 



On the whole, I think the evidence quite insufficient to 

 justify Mr. Carruthers' statement (/. c) : — " That the plant has 

 been in cultivation for over seventy years, and that the seed can 

 be purchased at any seedsman's for a small price per pound, cannot 

 be doubted." In fact it is extremely doubtful whether true seed is 

 procurable at all in this country. Yet it is a very ornamental grass, 

 and one which might well be used for the shaded parts of a garden, 

 or for ornamental plantations ; and its occurrence at Kelso may be 

 due to such a cause, or to mere accidental introduction. Even if 

 it were a species largely cultivated, that tvould not militate against its 

 being a true native, as well. 



A friend whose opinion I estimate very highly has questioned 

 the Witley station, on account of the immediate proximity of 

 rhododendrons and other planted things ; but I have not found a 

 single root of the Festuca growing under them. The soil on which 

 it occurs seems to have been little, if at all, disturbed ; and its 

 companion-grasses are all native. These are F. rubra, F. ovina, vars. 

 vulgaris and capillata, Dactylis, Poa nemoralis and P. pratensis, var. 

 angustifolia. My own decided opinion, after carefully balancing 

 the probabilities, is still in favour of its being equally native with 

 the rest. The Hants station so far as my memory serves me, is 

 not open to the same objection, on the ground of introduced 

 neighbours. I believe that the species, if looked for, will be found 

 in many parts of Southern England, though very likely of local 

 occurrence. Mr. Druce appears to think it a probable native in 

 his Oxfordshire locality. 



In Dr. Hackel's ' Mon. Fest. eur.,' (p. 130) F. heterophylla, 

 this plant is placed as a subspecies of F. rubra. In my humble 

 opinion, it has quite as strong claims to specific distinctness as 

 either rubra or ovina ; and the learned author himself wrote to me, 

 on its first discovery, that " he must admit never having found any 

 certain transitional forms ; a fact tending to justify the specific 

 separation." It may be desirable to give his description of the 

 grass, as the monograph is not widely known in this country : — 



* Since this paper has been in the printer's hands, Messrs. Sutton have 

 sent me a plant of the true F. heterophylla, grown on their trial grounds in 

 1886. They add : " We have many years sold seed quite as true as that 

 which we sent to you, but lately it has been so much mixed with A iraflexuom that 

 we have been unable to separate it and, therefore, could not offer it." — E. S. M. 

 Journal of Botany. — Vol. 28. [Feb. 1890.] e 



