GRAMINEAE. 



VOL. L 



3. Festuca sciurea Xutt. Southern Fescue- 

 grass. Fig. 650. 



Festuca sciurea Nutt. Trans. Am. Phil. Soc. 5 : 147. 1837. 



Culms 4'-2o' tall, slender; blades 2' long or less, 

 less than i" wide; panicle slender, ii'-6' long, its 

 branches erect or appressed ; spikelets 3-5-flowered, 

 the first scale more than one-half as long as the 

 second, the flowering scales appressed-pubescent, 

 about \\" long, exclusive of the awn which is 2-3 

 times as long as the scale. 



In dry soil, Virginia to Florida, Oklahoma and Texas. 

 Squirrel Fescue. June-Aug. 



4. Festuca rubra L. Red Fescue-grass. Fig. 651. 



Festuca rubra L. Sp. PI. 74. 1753. 



Culms ii-2i tall, from running rootstocks, erect, 

 simple, smooth and glabrous. Sheaths usually shorter 

 than the internodes ; ligule very short, truncate ; basal 

 blades involute-filiform, 3'-6' long; culm blades shorter, 

 erect, flat or involute in drying, minutely pubescent 

 above ; panicle 2'-$' in length, sometimes red, open at 

 flowering time, contracted in fruit ; spikelets 3-io-flow- 

 ered, 4"-6" long; lower scales acute, unequal, the first 

 l-nerved, shorter than the 3-nerved second ; flowering 

 scales about 3" long, obscurely 5-nerved, sometimes 

 scabrous, bearing awns of less than their own length. 



Labrador to Alaska and Virginia, south, especially on the 

 mountains, to Tennessee and Colorado. Also in Europe 

 and Asia. Summer. 



5. Festuca occidentalis Hook. Western 

 Fescue-grass. Fig. 652. 



F. occidentalis Hook. Fl. Bor. Am. 2: 249. 1840. 



Culms densely tufted, iJ-3 tall, erect, slender, 

 smooth and glabrous ; blades filiform, soft, up to 

 4' long, the basal ones numerous ; panicle 3'-8' 

 long, loose ; spikelets 3-5-flowered, the empty scales 

 unequal, variable, the flowering scales membranous, 

 glabrous, 2$"-3" long, bearing an awn more than 

 half their length. 



In woods, Michigan to British Columbia and Cali- 

 fornia. May-July. 



