248 GRASSES OF BRITAIN. 



Festuca UNIGLUMIS. 

 Small-glumed Fescue-Grass. 



Specific Character. — Lower glume extremely small. 



Description. — Root annual, fibrous, producing stems from four to 

 fifteen inches in length. Stems erect, hollow, smooth, slender, an- 

 gular especially on the upper part, bearing three or four leaves with 

 smooth, striated sheaths, the upper sheath much longer than its leaf. 

 Ligule of upper sheath very short, lobed on both sides. Joints 

 usually three, the upper one generally naked. Leaves small, nar- 

 row, mostly involute, smooth behind, hairy on the inner surface. 

 Inflorescence racemed, subsecund. Spikelets composed of two glumes 

 and five or six florets. Glumes very unequal ; the outer one nearly 

 obsolete, scarcely perceptible without the aid of a lens; the inner 

 glume long and narrow, three-ribbed, terminating in a rough, slen- 

 der point. Florets of two palese ; the outer palea of lowermost floret 

 about equal in length to the large glume, five-ribbed, rough on the 

 upper part, terminating in a long, rough awn, about twice the length 

 of the palea ; inner palea thin, narrow, mostly cloven at the summit, 

 furnished with two green ribs minutely fi'inged on the upper half. 

 Stt/les two. Stigmas feathery. Filaments three, capillary. Anthers 

 notched at each end. Scales small. 



Ohs. — The best distinguishing character between this grass and 

 Festuca bromoides is the almost total suppression of the lower glume. 

 It is likewise distinguished from the other species of Festuca in the 

 great length of the awns of the florets, which more than exceeds the 

 length of the palea. 



This grass grows in dry sandy situations, principally near the sea 

 coasts. It has been found in Devonshire, Dorset, Sussex, Essex, 

 Suffolk, Anglesea, and Ireland, but not in Scotland. It is also a 



Festum unirjlimiis, Soland., Koch, Kiinth, Smith, Hooker, With., Bab., Kuapp. 



