

GRAMINE.E. (GRASS FAMILY.) 669 



1. F. tenella, Willd. Panicle spike-like, one-sided, or more compound 

 and open; spikelets 7- 13-flowered; awn 1 -3" long or more, usually shorter 

 than or about equalling the glume ; stamens 2. Dry sterile soil, especially 

 southward. June, July. 



-i- -i- Perennial, tufted, 6-24' high; stamens 3. 



2. F. OVina, L. (SHEEP'S FESCUE.) Glaucous, |-2 high ; leaves mostly 

 radical, very narrow and convolute ; panicle somewhat one-sided, short, usu- 

 ally more or less compound, open in flowering ; spikelets 3 - 8-nowered ; awn 

 not more than half the length of the flower, often much shorter or almost 

 wanting. Indigenous in northern New Eng., about Lake Superior, and 

 northward; naturalized farther south as a pasture grass. June. Varies 

 greatly. Var. vivfpARA, L. (which with us has running rootstocks), a state 

 with the spikelets partially converted into lea.", saoots, is found on the alpine 

 summits of the White Mts., and high uorthw.a,.. Var. IJURIUSCULA, Koch, 

 is a tall form, with spikelets rather larger, usually in a more compound pani- 

 cle ; culm-leaves often flat or less convolute, and the lower with their sheaths 

 either smooth or hairy. New Eng. to Va., and westward, as a naturalized 

 plant, and indigenous northward. A native form of this variety with a lax 

 panicle, 2 - 4-flowered spikelets, and slender awns nearly as long as the glume 

 (var. rubra, of last ed.), is found on Keweenaw Peninsula (Robbins) and Isle 

 Royale, L. Superior (Oilman). (Eu.) 



* * Flowers oblong or lanceolate, awnless or nearly so (l|-4" long) ; grain often 

 free! (Root perennial ; culms mostly tall ; leaves fiat.) 



3. F. nutans, Willd. Culm 2-4 high, naked above; leaves broadly 

 linear, taper-pointed, dark green, often rather hairy; panicle of several long 

 and slender spreading branchex, mostly in pairs, drooping when old, rough, 

 naked below, bearing near their extremity a few ovate 3 - 5-flowered spikelets 

 (3" long) on pretty long pedicels ; flowers ovate-Mong, rather obtuse, close to- 

 gether, coriaceous, smooth, very obscurely 5-nerved. Rocky woods and copses. 

 July. A common form with the panicle more or less contracted and some- 

 what erect has been distinguished as F. Shortii. 



F. ELATIOR, L. (TALLER or MEADOW FESCUE.) (PI. 10, fig. 1 -3.) Pani- 

 cle narrow, contracted before and after flowering, erect, with short branches ; 

 spikelets crowded, 5 - 10-flowered ; flowers rather remote, oblong-lanceolate; 

 flowering glume 5-nerved, scarious-margined, blunt, acute, or rarelv with a 

 distinct but very short awn. The type is large, 3-4 high; spikelets about 

 6" long, in an ample and compound panicle. Rich grass-laud. Var. PRA- 

 TENSIS, Gray (F. pratensis, Huds.), is lower (1 -3 high), with a simpler or 

 close panicle of smaller or narrower spikelets, and abounds in grass-lands. 

 June - Aug. (Nat. from Eu.) 



F. GIGANTEA, Vill. Erect, glabrous, 3 - 4 high ; leaves bright green, 3 - 6" 

 broad; panicle very loose, nodding ; spikelets 3- 6-flowered; flowering glumes 

 3" long, with a slender awn of twice the length. Of rare occurrence near the 

 coast. (Nat. from Eu.) 



70. BE, OMITS, L. BROME-GRASS. (PI. 10.) 



Spikelets 5 - many-flowered, panicled. Glumes unequal, membranaceous ; 

 the lower 1 - 5-, the upper 3 - 9-uerved. Flowering glume either convex on 



