CH. vn] Botanical Description &/ Species'. ; ' : / ; 101 



Auricles distinct. The inner surface of the blade is ribbed and 

 hairy. Frequent in Britain. 



Flowers about the middle of June. Panicle rather close and 

 one-sided. Spikelets 5-6 flowered. Glumes acute, very unequal, 

 the upper and larger one three-nerved. 



"Seeds." Very slender, about 6 mm. long without the awn. 

 (15-20 mm. or more including the awn.) Outer palea gradually 

 tapering into a fine roughish awn nearly twice its own length. 

 Rachilla small and cylindrical. (Fig. 99.) 



Festuca ovina, L. (Sheep's Fescue.) Abundant in Britain. 



A fibrous rooted and tufted perennial, with permanently folded 

 leaves ; very abundant on poor dry soils, limestone hills, etc. 

 Flowers early in June. At high elevations and under moist con- 

 ditions Sheep's Fescue frequently passes into the viviparous state. 

 Instead of the normal development of sexual organs, the flowers 

 grow out into leafy buds having rudimentary roots at their base. 

 These are capable of directly propagating the plants when they 

 fall to the ground. See Fig. 100. This phenomenon is also met 

 with in some of the Poas, especially Poa alpina. 



Many varieties have been described, but most of them are 

 separated by only slight and variable features. Possibly the 

 forms of Red Fescue are also to be considered as only distinct 

 varieties of F. ovina. The following distinct varieties are of 

 economic importance 1 . 



Festuca ovina, L., var. vulgaris, Koch. (Common Sheep's 

 Fescue.) (Fig. 100.) See p. 150. 



All the leaves are permanently folded and grow in dense tufts. 

 Short stiff erect auricles at juncture of sheath and blade. Ligule 

 obsolete or wanting. Flowering culms about 6-9 inches high ; 

 erect, and rather rough and angular just below the panicle. 

 The panicle is short, close, and secund (one-sided). Spikelets 

 nearly erect, about six-flowered. Empty glumes unequal, the 

 upper and larger one three-nerved. 



"Seeds." Outer palea either smooth, rough, or hairy, 3-4 mm. 

 long, ending in an awn-point which is usually less than half the 



1 It is very probable that the numerous intermediate forms which cannot be 

 satisfactorily grouped in the main types here described are the result of the 

 repeated cross-fertilisation of these types. 



