224 FORAGE PLANTS AND THEIR CULTURE 



having the leaves broader than thick, .7 to 1 millimeter 



wide. 



Various-leaved fescue (Festuca ovina heterophylla or F. 



heterophylla) is some- 

 times considered a va- 

 riety of Festuca rubra. 

 Some of the shoots are 

 extravaginal. The 

 radical leaf blades are 

 long, soft and folded, 

 while the culm leaves 

 are flat and expanded, 

 whence its name. 



Fine-leaved fescue 

 (Festuca ovina tenuifo- 

 lia or F. tenuifolia of 

 the seedsmen ; Festuca 

 ovina capillata) has 

 very fine leaves and 

 awnless lemmas. 



The forms of Festuca 

 ovina native to North 

 America are much 

 fewer than in Europe. 

 Typical Festuca ovina 

 occurs rather sparingly 

 as a native in the 



FIG. 24. Sheep's fescue (Festuca ovina) . 



* , t ,^^ . fc* vj t* j.j. c*; \J JL V \^ J. ii \J H. \J 



a, glumes; b, spikelet with glumes re- -r> i T\/T r 



moved. Rocky Mountains from 



Alberta to New Mex- 

 ico, in the Black Hills and about the Great Lakes. Fes- 

 tuca ovina ingrata, the "Blue bunchgrass " of the stock- 

 men, is an important range plant from British Columbia 

 and Alberta to Colorado and Utah, especially in the Co- 



