376 HOUTUS GRAMINEUS WOBURNENSIS. 



FESTUCA gigantea. Tall Fescue-grass. Sm. Engl. Fi. i. 144. 



Festuca gigantea. Tall Fescue. Engl. Bot. t. 1820. 



Bromus gigantens. Tall brome-grass. Flo. Ger. 362 ; Curt. 



Lond. ; Host. t. 6; Hort. Gram. Fol. 277. 

 Specific character : Panicle nodding at top ; spikelets spear- 

 shaped, compressed, naked ; florets from three to six, im- 

 bricated ; awns somewhat flexuose, longer than the husks ; 

 leaves naked. See Sm. Engl. Fl. 

 Obs. — Root fibrous, fibres woody, from two to four feet high, 

 erect, round, striated, smooth ; leaves sword-shaped, acute, a 

 foot and a half long, apex nodding; sheath roundish, striated, 

 smooth, or a little rough, mostly tinged with purple at the 

 base; sheath-scale short, truncated, cartilaginous, of a brown 

 or russet colour ; outer husk of the corolla lanceolate, acute, 

 margin membranaceous, convex on the back, keeled above, 

 generally 5-uerved, cloven at the top ; between the clefts 

 issues the awn, which is a continuation of the middle nerve, 

 as in the different species of fescue, to which it is evidently 

 as much, if not nearer allied, than to the bromes. 

 Native of Britain. Root perennial. 



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

 rich siliceous sandy soil is — 



Produce per Acre, 

 dr. qr. 

 Grass, 40 oz. The produce per acre 

 64 dr. of grass afford of nutritive matter 2 2 7 

 The produce of the space, ditto - 25 3 

 At the time the seed is ripe, the produce is — 

 Grass, 35 oz. The produce per acre 

 64 dr. of grass afford of nutritive matter 2 1^ 

 The produce of the space, ditto - 19 2j 5 



This species is confined to woods in its natural state ; but it 

 continues in the soil, and appears to thrive equally well when cul- 

 tivated in open situations. It is a coarse grass, and but little nu- 

 tritive, though greatly superior to the spiked and wood fescue 

 grasses. The seeds are eaten by birds; and this appears to be the 

 chief use of the plant, its large structure being, apparently, intended 

 to enable it to perfect its seed among bushes, where it would be 

 otherwise choked up. 



