592 POACE^. 



smooth or scabrid above, 15-20 cm. long, 4-6 mm. wide. Panicle 

 contracted after flowering, 8-15-20 cm. long, rays mostly in pairs, 

 the longest 6-10 cm. long, flower-bearing for three-fifths of tlie 

 upper part. Spikelets linear-oblong, green or tinged with purple, 

 6-11-flowered, 12-18 mm. long, joint of rachilla 1.5 mm. long; 

 empty glumes lanceolate, first 3 mm., second about 4 mm. long; 

 floral glume oblong, acute, scabrid toward the tip, rarely awned, 

 5-nerved, 6-7 mm. long ; palea linear before spreading, as long ua 

 its glume, scabrid on the keels. 



Introduced from Europe; cultivated and very variable. See 

 Vol. 1, Fig. 65, for a full account of this and subspecies arundi- 

 nacea, Fig. 66, Vol. 1. 



Var. PRATEXSis (Huds.) Hack. Monog. Fest. Europ, 150(1882). 

 F.pratensis Huds. Fl. Angl. Ed. 1, 37 (1762). Smaller Meadow- 

 fescue. 



Panicle subsecund, narrower, simpler; rays shorter, very near 

 the above, into which it passes imperceptibly. Found with other 

 varieties and subvarieties in cultivation. When the spikelets are 

 racemose it is the form known as hliacea. 



14. F. fratercula liupr. Bull. Acad. Brux. 9 .-part 2, 326 (1842). 



A slender perennial, 60-80 cm. high, glabrous throughout ex- 

 cepting the spikelets. Sterile shoots few, witli leaves like those of 

 the culm. Sheaths shorter than the internodes; ligule a mere 

 fringe, slightly oblique; blades flat, 12-18 cm. long, 3-4.5 mm. 

 wide. Panicle slender, 15-20 mm. long; rays single or the lower 

 in pairs, 10-15 cm. long, bearing 12-20 spikelets on tlie outer half 

 or third. Spikelets linear-lanceolate, 7-8 mm. long, 3-flowered, first 

 glume subulate, 3 mm. long, 1-nerved, second oval, 6 mm. long, 

 3-nerved, subacute; floral glume membranous, scabrous, 6-7 mm. 

 long, 5-nerved, ovate-lanceolate, tlie awn 0.5-2 mm. long; palea 

 linear obtuse, 6.5 mm. long. Apex of ovary hairy. Somewhat 

 nearly allied to F. suhulaia. 



Arizona, Nealley for U. S. Dept. Agriciil. 177 in 1891. 



Dr. Vasey placed this under the above name "■ with much 

 doubt" I do the same. 



