GRAMINEAE (GRASS FAMILY) 75 



cent at base, with broadly scarious apex, faintly 5-nerved, truncate or erose- 

 dentate: stigmas with simple hairs. Glyceria distans. Wet saline soil; New 

 Mexico to Montana and thence in similar situations to the coasts. 



59. FESTUCA L. FESCUE 



Erect simple-stemmed grasses. Spikelets 4-15-flowered, perfect except the 

 glumiferous rudiment, compressed, short-pediceled or nearly sessile, in narrow 

 or open spreading panicles. Glumes acute, narrow, unequal, about one third 

 shorter than the adjacent florets; lemma herbaceous or coriaceous, obscurely 

 5-nerved, hispidulous, slightly pubescent or smooth, acute or awned, convex, 

 often involute; palet bidentate, nearly equaling the lemma. Grain narrowly 

 linear or fusiform, channeled, usually adhering to the enveloping glume and 

 palet. 



Annual; stamens 2 . ", "'..;.. . . . .1. F. octoflora. 



Perennial; stamens 3. 



Plants with narrow involute leaves, usually tufted. 

 Densely tufted, not rhizomatous nor stoloniferous. 

 Lemmas more than twice as long as the first glume. 



Awn long (equaling or longer than the glume) . . . 2. F. ovina. 

 Awn short . . . . . . . . . 3. F. arizonica. 



Lemmas less than twice as long as the first glume . . . 4. F. brachyphylla. 

 More open, rhizomatous or stoloniferous . . . . . 5. F. rubra. 



Plants with flat broad leaves. 

 The second glume 3-5-nerved. 



Panicle with spreading or reflexed branches; awns long . . 6. F. Jonesii. 

 Panicle with ascending branches; awns short or wanting . 7. F. elatior. 

 The second glume 1 -nerved, or 3-nerved at base only. 



Panicle open 8. F. scabrella. 



Panicle spike-like . . . . . . . . 9. F. confinis. 



1. Festuca octoflora Walt. Fl. Car. 81. 1788. Stems often filiform, 1-4 dm. 

 high: the erect leaves 3-7 cm. long; sheaths sometimes pubescent: panicle 4-6 

 cm. long, simple, often secund: spikelets, including awns, 8-10 mm. long, 

 7-13-flowered: glumes subulate, very acute, the lower at least half the length 

 of the upper; lemma involute, rough, 4 mm. long exclusive of its awn, which is 

 mostly snorter than the palet and often very short. F. tenella. Across the 

 continent. 



2. Festuca ovina L. Sp. PI. 73. 1753. Stems 2-5 dm. high, glaucous: leaves all 

 setaceous or the upper flat; ligule 2-lobed and auric ulate: panicle short, more 

 or less compound, somewhat one-sided, the branches mostly solitary: spike- 

 lets 3-8-flowered: lemma about 6 mm. long, ternate, mucronate or with an 

 awn half its own length. Many varieties of this common species have been 

 designated, but the distinctions between them can be drawn with difficulty. 

 Across the continent northward and south in the mountains. 



2a. Festuca ovina ingrata Hack. Beal's Grasses 2: 598. 1896. Near the 

 preceding, densely tufted, 1-3 dm. high: leaves setaceous, 3-8 cm. long; the 

 sheaths entire to the throat, splitting with age: panicle dense, linear, simple, 

 racemose, 3-6 cm. long: spikelets elliptical, 6 mm. long, 1-4-flowered: glumes 

 subequal; lemma 3-4 mm. long, smooth or scabrous, its awn 1-2 mm. long; 

 palet oblong, acute, 2-toothed. [F. ingrata (Hack.) Rydb. Bull. Torr. Bot. 

 Club 32: 608. 1905.] Throughout the Rocky Mountains. 



3. Festuca arizonica Vasey, Contrib. Nat. Herb. 1: 277. 1893. Firm and 

 tufted, 5-7 dm. high: leaves very numerous, stiff, filiform-setaceous, scabrous 

 margined; the upper two or three with long sheaths, and blades 15-25 cm. 

 long; ligules^short, with prominent auricles: panicle narrow, 6-12 cm. long; 

 the branches alternate, erect and appressed: spikelets about 10 mm. long, 

 lance-linear, on short pedicels, 4-5-flowered: glumes unequal, 3-nerved; 

 lemma longer, thick, acuminate, with an awn 1-2 mm. long, obscurely 5-nerved; 

 palet equaling its lemma, scabrous on the keels. Colorado to New Mexico and 

 Arizona. 



4. Festuca brachyphylla Schultes, Mant. 2: 646. 1824. Smooth and 

 glabrous: culms densely tufted, 2 dm. tall or less, slender, erect, much exceed- 

 ing the short basal leaves: sheaths coarsely striate; leaves very narrow, in- 



