100 Botanical Section [PT i 



tufts especially in moist situations. Shoots cylindrical ; sheaths 

 split, red or pink at the base. Leaf-blades rolled in the shoot, 

 dark-green, firm, long, acuminate; the upper surface dull, harsh, 

 with prominent ribs; the lower surface smooth and glossy, 

 distinctly keeled at the base. White lines are seen between 

 each rib when the leaf is held up to the light. Auricles 

 often mere ledge-like projections. Ligule much reduced and 

 blunt. 



Flowers early in July ; culms from 3 to 5 feet high. Inflores- 

 cence a compound panicle, large, spreading, and the upper portion 

 somewhat drooping towards one side. Spikelets 5-10 flowered. 

 Glumes unequal, the upper and larger one three-nerved. 



"Seeds." Outer palea 5-9 mm. long, boat-shaped, round- 

 backed, and indistinctly five-nerved, the dorsal nerve terminating 

 in an acute point, or even an awn-point. The nerves are often 

 finely serrated. Inner palea acutely pointed. Kachilla cylin- 

 drical and outstanding, smooth or rough. The ripe "seed" has 

 a dull grey-brown appearance. (Fig. 95.) 



Festuca elatior, L., sub-sp. pratensis, Hackel. (Meadow Fescue.) 

 (Fig. 96.) Frequent throughout Britain. See p. 148. 



Both in habit and foliage this plant resembles the last variety, 

 but it is of smaller size. The flowering culms are from 18 inches 

 to 2 feet high, and the panicles are less branched than in the pre- 

 ceding form. The spikelets and "seeds" are also very similar, 

 but the latter are shorter (about 5-6 mm. long), slightly broader, 

 and usually without the acuminate apex of the "seeds" of Tall 

 Fescue. When well ripened the "seeds" are also of a paler 

 appearance than those of the tall variety. (Fig. 97.) 



Festuca loliacsa, Curt., is probably only a form of Meadow 

 Fescue, in which the inflorescence is reduced to a spike of spike- 

 lets. It is otherwise indistinguishable from the normal form of 

 F. pratensis. The two empty glumes at the base of each spikelet 

 readily distinguish it from the Eye-grasses. 



Festuca gigantea. Vill. See Bromus giganteus. 



Festuca Myurus, L. (Rat's-tail Fescue) = F. bromoides, Sm. 

 (Fig. 98.) 



An annual, occurring chiefly in waste places and as a roadside 

 weed. Leaf-blades permanently folded, bristle-like, dark-green. 



