FES 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY.^ 



FES 



559 



soils, and in elevated situations; and is common on alt our 

 finest sheep-downs. This grass has been much celebrated for 

 feeding sheep; Linneus asserts, that it is their principal food, 

 and that they have no relish for hills and heaths that are 

 without it. Gmelin says, that the Tartars choose to fix during 

 the summer wherever there is the greatest plenty of this grass, 

 because it affords a most wholesome nourishment to all kinds 

 of cattle, but chiefly sheep. It certainly is a very sweet feed, 

 as far as it goes, on sheep-downs. Mr. Anderson does not 

 scruple to affirm, that it is capable of affording an immense 

 quantity of hay, and that it promises to be one of the best 

 grasses" our country produces, and to make a most valuable 

 acquisition to the farmer. This, however, seems to be carry- 

 ing our prejudices very far indeed, for in its native soil, on 

 dry elevated heaths and commons, its foliage is hard and 

 wiry, and its produce very trifling. In such situations, it is 

 of a puplish-brown colour in summer. In a rich moist soil, 

 indeed, the foliage retains its verdure, and becomes much 

 longer ; but being after all but a small plant, it can never be 

 productive, and consequently cannot have any pretensions to 

 be considered as fit for a hay-grass. Were the Sheep's Fes- 

 cue to be sown in such a soil, the grasses and other plants 

 natural to that soil would quickly overpower it ; and it is not 

 merely the grass, but the nature of the soil in which it grows, 

 the elevated situation, and the dry salubrious air, that are 

 acceptable to sheep. Mr. Curtis, who has combated the vul- 

 gar notion of the excellence of this poor wiry grass for feed- 

 ing cattle, particularly sheep, has however found out that it 

 is excellent for the purpose of making a fine grass-plat, re- 

 quiring little mowing : when it has once got possession of the 

 soil, it will form so thick a turf, as to suffer few intruding 

 weeds, and may be kept in order with little trouble. For this 

 purpose it must be sown about the middle of August, in an 

 open but not too dry situation, broadcast, and that thickly, 

 on ground nicely prepared and levelled. There is a variety 

 which grows in Sweden, and on the mountains of Wales, 

 Yorkshire, and Westmoreland. 



3. Festuca Rubra ; Purple or Red Fescue Grass. Panicle 

 directed to one side, scabrous ; spikelets six-flowered, awned ; 

 floscule at the end awnless ; culm semicylindric. Red Fescue 

 Grass is distinguished from the preceding by its greater size, 

 its red colour when ripe, and the culm being cylindric, only 

 flatted a little on one side. The leaves are covered with a 

 woolliness on the upper side, barely perceptible to the naked 

 eye ; culms smooth, but rough within the panicle. Accord- 

 ing to Villars, the stiff hard leaves, those of the stem, like 

 those next the root, fine, and of a shining green, with the 

 1>rownish-red shining colour of the flowers, distinguish this 

 from the innumerable varieties of other species ; the glumes 

 of the corolla are smooth.--Found on high heaths and dry 

 pastures; perennial, and flowering in July. 



4. Festuca Amethystina. Panicle flexuose ; spikelets di- 

 rected to one side, inclined, nearly awnless; leaves bristle- 

 shaped. This species was found near Paris; and is probably 

 no more than a variety of the second species. 



5. Festuca Keptatrix. Branches of the panicle simple ; 

 spikelets subsessile ; root perennial, the thickness of a goose- 

 quill, creeping very far under ground, covered with broad 

 rudiments of leaves ; culms more than a foot and a half in 

 height; leaves involute, filiform. Panicle oblong, with alter- 

 nate very simple branches, pointing one way ; spikelets alter- 

 nate, very many, lanceolate, six-flowered, alternate, acuminate, 

 awnless. Native of Arabia and Palestine. 



6. Festuca Duriuscula; Hard Fescue Grass. Panicle di- 

 rected to one side, oblong ; spikelets oblong, of an even smooth 

 surface; leaves bristle-shaped ; root perennial. Culm twelve 



or eighteen inches in height ; branches of the panicle alter- 

 nate ; spikelets peduncled, linear, compressed, six-flowered, 

 ascending. It is early and productive; and from these cir- 

 cumstances, and from its natural place of growth, appears to 

 be a proper grass for sheep pastures. It varies much in size 

 and breadth of leaf, as well as in the colour of its panicle ; 

 but in all situations it is very distinct from the Ovina. All 

 these grasses form an admirable pasture for sheep, and seem, 

 to flourish most when they are bit the closest, but are in 

 general unproductive. Native of dry pastures, flowering 

 in June. 



7. Festuca Dumetorum ; Pubescent Fescue Grass. Panicle, 

 spike-form, pubescent; leaves filiform; culms afoot or eighteen 

 inches in height, filiform, cylindric, with two swelling knots ; 

 root-leaves a foot long, cylindric, scarcely ancipital; stem- 

 leaves shorter, channelled ; glumes terminating in a minute 

 awn ; bulbs very often produced within the sheaths of 

 the culm. Grows in woods and hedges, flowering in June 

 and July. 



8. Festuca Etatior; Tall Fescue Grass. Panicle directed 

 to one side, upright ; spikelets mostly awned, the outer ones 

 cylindric; leaves from a foot to eighteen inches long; florets 

 about eight; calicine glumes unequal, acuminate, of the 

 corolla nearly equal, pointed, the outer a little larger and 

 longer, the inner often bifid. Hudson, who joins the Meadow 

 with the Flote Fescue, doubts whether this be a distinct spe- 

 cies, since it has so many things in common with them ; but 

 Curtis, although he allows it to be very similar, asserts that 

 it is specifically different : he says, that it grows to a great 

 height in marshes, is hardy, and very productive, but too harsh 

 and coarse for hay ; yet allows that it may perhaps be a good 

 grass for soils which cannot be drained of their too great 

 moisture, or are very liable to be ovei flowed. It is found in 

 moist meadows and woods, but most frequently in wet situ- 

 ations, as by river sides, and in Osier grounds. It grows in 

 large tufts, and is conspicuous by the breadth of its leaves, the 

 height of its stems, and the drooping of its panicle, at least 

 before it flowers. In very luxuriant spots the leaves are some- 

 times half an inch wide, but in general this grass varies little, 

 except in size, and sometimes in having awns. Perennial, 

 (lowering in June and July. 



9. Festuca Myurus ; Wall Fescue Grass. Panicle spiked ; 

 calices extremely minute, awnless ; flowers scabrous; awns 

 long ; culms aggregate, cylindric, a foot or eighteen inches in 

 height ; spikelets subsessile, linear, with five flosculesin each ; 

 glumes very unequal ; awns longer than the spikelets ; accord- 

 ing to Haller, growing from below the tip. It is annual ; and 

 is called Capon's-tail Grass. Found upon walls and barren 

 places, flowering in June. 



10. Festuca Spadicea ; Bronie-jlowere.d Fescue Grass, 

 Panicle erect ; spikelets ovate, four-flowered; glumes acu- 

 minate, awnless ; leaves bristle-shaped, smooth, pungent ; 

 root perennial. Culms three feet high, erect, strict, round, 

 striated, very smooth, with one or two purple joints ; leaves 

 involute-setaceous, strict, very smooth, striated, mucronate, 

 pungent, glaucous, widened into a membrane at the base, 

 sheathing, whitish ; peduncles angular, subflexuose, erect ; 

 spikelets compressed, usually four-flowered, smooth. Dr. 

 Smith, whose sagacity and attention in developing this species 

 are eminently conspicuous, informs us, that he has learnt from 

 Savoy, that this grass is likely to become of considerable use, 

 and that large quantities of it are now in cultivation. Native 

 of the south of France, Switzerland, &c. 



11. Festuca Phoenicoides. Raceme undivided ; spikelets 

 alternate, almost sessile, cylindric ; leaves involute, mucronate, 

 and pungent; rootcreeping. Culms two feet high and upwards, 



