GRAMINE^. (grass FAMILY.) 669 



1. F. tenella, Willd. Panicle spike-like, one-sided, or more compound 

 and open; spikelets 7 - 13-flowered; awn 1-3" long or more, usuallij shorter 

 than or about equalling the glume; stamens 2. — Dry sterile soil, especially 

 southward. June, July. 



-t- -1- Perennial, tufted, 6-24' high; stamens 3. 



2. F. OVina, L. (Sheep's Fescue.) Glaucous, ^-2° high ; leaves mostly 

 radical, very narrow and convolute ; panicle somewhat one-sided, short, usu- 

 ally more or less compound, open in flowering; spikelets 3 - 8-flowered ; awn 

 not more than half the length of the flower, often much shorter or almost 

 wanting. — Indigenous in northern New Eng., about Lake Superior, and 

 nortliward ; naturalized farther south as a pasture grass. June. — Varies 

 greatly. — Var. vivipara, L. (which with us has running rootstocks), a state 

 with the spikelets partially converted into leafy shoots, is found on the alpine 

 summits of the White Mts., and high northward. — Var. duriuscula, Koch, 

 is a tall form, witli spikelets rather larger, usually in a more compound pani- 

 cle ; culm-leaves often flat or less convolute, and the lower with their sheaths 

 either smooth or hairy. New Eng. to Va., and westward, as a naturalized 

 plant, and indigenous northward. A native form of this variety with a lax 

 panicle, 2-4-flowered spikelets, and slender awns nearly as long as tlie glume 

 (var. rubra, of last ed.), is found on Keweenaw Peninsula (Robbins) and Isle 

 Royale, L. Superior (Gilman). (Eu.) 



* * Flowers oblong or lanceolate, awnless or nearlg so (l|-4" long) ; grain often 

 free! {Root perennial ; culms mostlij tall ; leaves Jiat.) 



3. F. nutans, AVilkl. Culm 2-4° high, naked above; leaves broadly 

 linear, taper-pointed, dark green, often ratlier hairy; panicle of several long 

 and slender spreading branches, mostly in pairs, drooping when old, rough, 

 naked below, bearing near their extremity a few ovate 3 - 5-flowered spikelets 

 (3" long) on pretty long pedicels ; flowers ovate-oblong , rather obtuse, close to- 

 gether, coriaceous, smooth, very obscurely 5-nerved. — Rocky woods and copses. 

 July. — A common form with the panicle more or less contracted and some- 

 what erect has been distinguished as F. Shortii. 



F. elXtior, L. (Taller or Meadow Fescue.) (PI. 10, fig. 1 -3.) Pani- 

 cle narrow, contracted before and after flowering, erect, with short branches , 

 spikelets crowded, 5 - 10-flowered ; flowers rather remote, oblong-lanceolate; 

 flowering glume 5-nerved, scarious-raargined, blunt, acute, or rarely with a 

 distinct but very short awn. — The type is large, 3-4° high ; spikelets about 

 6'' long, in an ample and compound panicle. Rich grass-land. — Var. pra- 

 TENSis, Gray (F. pratensis, Huds.), is lower (1 -3° high), with a simpler or 

 close panicle of smaller or narrower spikelets, and abounds in grass-lands. 

 June- Aug. (Nat. from Eu.) 



F. gigantea, Vill. Erect, glabrous, 3-4° high ; leaves bright green, 3 - 6" 

 broad ; panicle very loose, nodding ; spikelets 3 - 6-flowered ; flowering glumes 

 3'' long, with a slender awn of twice the length. — Of rare occurrence near the 

 coast. (Xat. from Eu.) 



70. B ROM US, L. Brome-Grass. (PI. 10.) 



Spikelets 5 -many-flowered, panicled. Glumes unequal, membranaceous ; 

 the lower 1 - 5-, the upper 3 - 9-uerved. Flowering glume either convex on 



