HORTUS GRAMINEUS WOBURNENSIS. 375 



FESTUCA pinnata. Spiked Heath Fescue-grass. Sm. Engl. 

 Fl. i. p. 150. 



Bromus pinnatus. Wing-spiked Brome-grass. E. Bot. 730 ; 

 Hort. Gram. Fol. 275. 



Festuca pinnata. Wing-spiked Fescue-grass. Flo. Ger. i. 

 p. 342. 



Specific character: Spike simple, erect, two-ranked; spikelets 

 a little distant, awned ; awns after flowering a little spread- 

 ing, shorter than the husks ; root creeping. See Sm. 

 Engl. Fl. 



Obs. — The whole plant is of a yellowish-green colour; culms 

 numerous, eighteen inches and more in height, upright, 

 roundish, slightly scored, smooth and unbranched ; leaves 

 erect, linear spear-shaped ; spike-stalk flexuose, rough ; 

 spikelets rather distant, linear, at first roundish, afterwards a 

 little compressed, many-flowered, awned, pubescent. 



Native of Britain. Root perennial, creeping. 



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

 siliceous sandy soil with manure, is — 



Produce per Acre, 

 dr. qr. lbs. 



Grass, 30 oz. The produce per acre - - 20418 12 



80 dr. of grass weigh, when dry - "^^ ^ ^ 8167 8 

 The produce of the space, ditto - 192 5 



The weight lost by the produce of one acre in drying 12251 4 



64 dr. of grass afford of nutritive matter 117 ono in rv 

 The produce of the space, ditto - 9| 1 3 



The above experiments shew that the wing-spiked brome-grass 

 cannot as yet be considered in any other light than a noxious 

 weed ; for though the weight of produce is considerable, it is nei- 

 ther early, nutritive, nor relished by cattle. It grows chiefly in 

 dry, hilly woodlands, particularly where the soil is calcareous. 

 This, and the Festuca sylvatica, which is likewise an inhabitant of 

 woods where the soil is siliceous, may be considered the least 

 useful of the British grasses. This species of fescue seems to 

 connect the bromes and fescues in a natural series. 



It flowers about the third week of July, and the seed is ripe 

 about the last week in August. 



