78 FODDER AND PASTURE PLANTS. 



MEADOW FESCUE, TALL FESCUE (Festuca elatior L.) 



Plate 12; Seed, Plate 26, Fig. 20. 



Other Latin name: Festuca pratensis Huds. 



Other English names: English Blue Grass, Evergreen Grass, Randall 

 Grass. 



Much confusion has resulted from the two Latin names for this 

 grass. Festuca elatior means Tall Fescue, and Festuca pratensis 

 means Meadow Fescue. Seedsmen generally term Tall Fescue 

 Festuca elatior and Meadow Fescue Festuca pratensis, thus support- 

 ing the widely spread opinion that Tall Fescue and Meadow Fescue 

 are two botanically distinct plants. This is not the case. They are 

 merely agricultural varieties of one plant, the correct Latin name of 

 which is Festuca elatior L., just as Banner and Abundance are two 

 agricultural varieties of oats, Avena saliva L. 



MEADOW FESCUE. 



Botanical description: Meadow Fescue is perennial with 

 long, strong roots. It has rather short rootstocks and is therefore 

 tufted but not so much as Orchard Grass. The stems, which are 

 from eighteen to thirty-six inches high, are smooth and rather slender. 

 Most of the leaves are produced by numerous sterile shoots from the 

 rootstocks, the stems carrying only a few. The leaves are dark green, 

 rather long and broad, weak in texture and often overhanging. They 

 are rolled up in the bud, and the young shoots are therefore round 

 and not flattened, as in Orchard Grass, where the young leaves are 

 folded together along the middle line. The flowers are in a panicle, 

 with two branches of different size from each joint. The branches 

 spread only during flowering time; before and after, the panicle is 

 narrow, with erect branches. Brome and other grasses have panicles 

 similar to that of Meadow Fescue. The latter is recognized by the 

 nodding panicle at the top and the branches turned toward one side. 

 The spikelets are oblong and often with a touch of violet. One 

 contains seven or eight flowers, each enclosed within two glumes 

 which are smooth and slightly rounded. When flowering, the sta- 

 mens and pistil appear at the same time. There is therefore a 

 chance for both self- and cross-fertilization. 



Geographical distribution: Meadow Fescue is indigenous to 

 Europe up to the polar circle and in the temperate parts of Asia. 



