GRASS FAMILY. 217 
4. Festuca ovina L. Sheep’s Fescue-grass. (Fig. 500.) 
Festuca ovina ¥,. Sp. Pl. 73. 1753- 
Smooth, glabrous, culms 6/14’ tall, erect, tufted, 
slender, rigid, simple; no rootstocks. Sheaths usually 
crowded at the base of the culm; ligule auriculate, 
short; leaves filiform or setaceous, those of the culm 
few, 1/-3’ long, erect, the basal ones numerous; pan- 
icle 1'%4’-3’ long, often one-sided, narrow, its branches 
short, usually erect or appressed; spikelets 3-5- 
flowered; empty scales unequal, acute, the first 1- 
nerved, the second 3-nerved; flowering scales 114//—2’/ 
long, smooth, acute, usually short-awned. 
In fields and waste places, Labrador to British Colum- 
bia, south to New Jersey, Colorado and California. Vari- 
able. Probably indigenous northward, but mostly natu- 
talized from Europe. Native alsoof Asia. The subarctic 
and Rocky Mountain var. brevifolia S. Watson, may be a 
distinct species. June-July. 
The so-called var. vivipara, a state of this grass with the 
seales wholly or partly transformed into small leaves, is 
found on the mountains of New England and in arctic 
America, 
Festuca ovina duriuscula (I,.) Hack. Monog. Fest. Europ. 89. 1882. 
Festuca duriuscula ¥,. Sp. Pl. 74. 1753. ; 
Culms taller and stouter, the panicle usually more open and the flowering scales about 3!’ long. 
Newfoundland to the Rocky Mountains, south to Virginia and Colorado, Naturalized from Europe. 
5. Festuca scabrélla Torr. Rough Fes- 
cue-grass. (Fig. 501.) 
Fustuca scabrella Yorr.; Hook. Fl. Bor. Am. 2: 252. 
pl. 233. 1840. 
Culms 1°-3° tall, erect, simple, usually rough, 
below the panicle. Sheaths overlapping, smooth; 
ligule a ring of very short hairs; leaves rough, 1// 
wide or less, those of the culm 1/—3/ long, erect, the 
basal flat, much longer and readily deciduous from 
the sheaths, involute in drying; panicle 3/-4/ in 
length, open, its branches ascending or the lower 
widely spreading; spikelets 3-5-flowered, about 4/’ 
long; empty scales scarious, unequal, smooth, the 
first 1-nerved, the second longer, 3-nerved; flower- 
ing scales about 3’’ long, scabrous, often bearing a 
short awn 1’’ long or less. 
Labrador and Quebec to Manitoba and British Co- 
lumbia, south to California. Summer. 
6. Festuca elatior L. ‘Tall or Meadow 
Fescue-grass. (Fig. 502.) 
Festuca elatior V,. Sp. Pl. 75. 1753. 
Festuca pratensis Huds. Fl. Angl. 37. 1762. 
peseyca elatior var. pratensis A, Gray, Man. Ed. 5, 634. 
ies 
Culms 2°-5° tall, erect, simple, smooth and gla- 
brous. Sheaths shorter than the internodes; ligule 
very short; leaves 4’-15/ long, 2//-4’/’ wide, flat, 
smooth beneath, more or less rough above; panicle 
4/-14/ in length, often nodding at the top, simple to 
very compound, the branches ascending or erect, 2/— 
8’ long; spikelets 5~9-flowered, 414’//-6’” long; empty 
scales acute, the first 1-3-nerved, the second 3-5- 
nerved; flowering scales acute or short-pointed, smooth 
and glabrous, 214’/-3/’ long, indistinctly 5-nerved. 
In fields and waste places, Nova Scotia to Ontario, 
south to North Carolina, Tennessee and Kansas. Natur- 
alized from Europe and cultivated for hay. Variable. 
July-Aug. 
