HORTUS GRAMINEUS WOBURNENSIS. 363 



FESTUCA elatior, var. fertilis. Fertile-seeded Tall Fescue. 



Obs. — Differs from the common variety of tall fescue, in having 

 the panicle somewhat drooping ; spikelets six-flowered, more 

 ovate and flat; the larger husk of the calyx often awned, and 

 the awn is fixed on the apex more in the manner of that of a 

 bromus than a fescue. Leaves smoother, and of a less dark 

 green colour. I found this grass last summer on a moist part 

 of a field belonging to Mr. Westcar, at Creslew, Bucks, 

 growing in company with the barren-seeded variety. Hort. 

 Gram. Fl. 257. — Fig. \. Spikelet, magnified. 2. Corolla. 

 3. Germen, Styles, and Nectary. 

 Experiments. — At the time of flowering, the produce from a 

 black sandy loam, incumbent on clay, is — 



Produce per Acre, 

 dr. qr. lbs. 



Grass, 80 oz. The produce per acre - - 54450 



80 dr. of grass weigh, when dry - 35 > oqqoi 14. n 

 The produce of the space, ditto - 560 5 ~ ~ 



The weight lost by the produce of one acre in drying 30628 2 

 64 dr. of grass afford of nutritive matter 5 7 do^'k ^A n 

 The produce of the space, ditto - 100 5 



This grass, which is nearly allied to the common Festuca elatior, 

 perfects an abundance of seed, though not entirely free from dis- 

 eased portions, and is therefore not liable to the objection which 

 takes so much from the value of that variety. It is equally early 

 in the produce of foliage, and flowers earlier than the barren tall 

 fescue by eight or ten days ; the produce is equally nutritive. For 

 damp soils that cannot conveniently be made sufiiciently dry by 

 drains, this would be a most valuable plant, either to be cut for 

 soiling or made into hay, and reduced to chaff as it might be 

 wanted. I have never seen this plant in a wild state ; it was first 

 discovered here in the Grass Garden, seemingly introduced by 

 accident. W. P. Taunton, Esq., of London, was kind enough to 

 send me some seeds of a grass which he found growing on a bas- 

 tard fuller's-earth soil in considerable plenty, in the parish of Kil- 

 mersdon, Somerset. I believe this to be the same grass. 



Mr. Taunton, who has paid much attention to the subject, con- 

 ceives that the disease termed clavus, which renders the seed of the 

 other variety of tall fescue abortive, may be caused by over-rich- 

 ness of the soil. My observations tend to confirm that opinion in 



