116 CLASSIFICATION ACCORDING TO [cH. 
zz WSheaths downy. A weed of open lands 
and hedges, two feet or less. 
B. sterilis, L. 
B. giganteus is rarer than 4. asper and has smaller spikelets 
and more slender awns. B. maximus and B. madritensis are rare. 
OO Awns, if present, merely the points of 
the palew, very short or obsolete. Sheaths 
split: ligule short. 
Festuca. 
= Leaves flattened. Panicle somewhat close. 
Often tall grasses. 
z Meadow-grass, with 5—6 to a dozen or 
more flowers in the spikelet. 
F. elatior, L. 
zz Shade-grass, with 4—5 flowers only in the 
spikelet. 
F. sylvatica, Vill. 
== Leaves subulate or setaceous, at least below. 
Mountain pasture grass, usually small. 
F’., ovina. 
Concerning difficulties between Poa and the awnless forms of 
Festuca, see p. 114. F. elatior and F. sylvatica are practically awn- 
less, the awn-points being merely the acuminate tips of the palez. 
The long-awned species of Festuca have compact stiff panicles 
and narrow or setaceous leaves (see p. 111). 
Regarding varieties of F.. ovina, see p. 112. 
++ Awns, twisted below and bent above, inserted 
into the middle of the back of the bifid palea or 
below it. 
© Awns long and conspicuously projecting 
from the spikelet, which 1s gaping and 
contains 83—5 flowers. Leaves flat. 
Avena. 
