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NORTH-CAROLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 



FESTUCA LOLIACEA SLENDER-SPIK 

 ED FESCUE. 



Stem erect, slender ; spikelete 

 acute, close pressed, rather 

 crowded, and from ten to twelve 

 in number. It grows in moist 

 meadows in small tufts, root per 

 ennial. It is a nutritive grass, 

 and would form good pastures, 

 but it is too rare to be ranked 

 among those worth cultivating. 



The fescue grasses are com 

 mon in most meadows, and occu 

 py shady as well as sunny places ; 

 among the most valuable and 

 common of the tribe, is the Festn- 

 ca pratensis. Its stem is round 

 and smooth, and from 2 to 3 feet 

 high, with creeping roots, and 

 surmounted by an erect branch 

 ed panicle, and somewhat one 

 sided ; spikelets linear, with from 

 five to ten flowers. The leaves 

 are long glossy green striated, 

 and have rough edges. 



Flowers in June and grows 

 in moist pastures. It ripens its 

 seeds early, and hence takes pos 

 session of the ground before oth 

 er grasses are matured. It is a 

 nutritive plant, growing in stiff 

 moist soils, and in shaded places. 

 Darby does not speak of it as a 

 southern grass. 



(FiG. 15.) BROMUS. 



Glumes two, many flowered, and shorter than the florets ; 

 florets imbricate in two rows ; lower paleee cordate emargin- 

 ate, and sometimes armed with an awn below the summit ; 

 scales ovate smooth. 



