71 



FESTUCA. 



Spikelets three to many- flowered, variously panicled, pedicellate, rhachis of the 

 spikelets not hairy ; outer glumes unequal, shorter than the flowers, the lo\\i-r <HH- 

 nerved, aud the upper three-nerved, narrow, keeled, acute; flowering glmn<- IH.MH- 

 branaceous, chartaceous, or subcoriaceous, narrow, rounded on the back (not 

 keeled), more or less distinctly three to five-nerved, acute or tapering into a straight 

 awn, rarely obtusish; palet narrow, flat, prominently two-nerved or two-keeled. 



Festuca elatior (Meadow Fescue Grass; Tall Fescue; Randall Grass). 



A perennial grass, growing from 2 to 4 feet high, with flat, broadish leaves about a 

 foot long. The panicle is somewhat one-sided, loose, a,nd spreading when in flower, 

 contracted after flowering, from 6 to 10 inches long, the branches 1 to 2 inches long, 

 erect, mostly in pairs below, single above, subdivided; the spikelets are lanceolate 

 or linear, about half an inch long, five to ten-flowered. The flowering glume is lance- 

 olate, about three lines long, firm in texture, five-nerved, scarious at the margin, 

 acute, and sometimes with a short but distinct awn at the apex. 



This is an introduced species now frequently met with in meadows ; 

 it is one of the standard meadow grasses of Europe. Cattle are said to 

 be very fond of it, both green and as hay. 



There is a smaller form or variety, which is the variety pratensis or 

 Festuca pratensis, Hudson. 



Professor Killebrew, of Tennessee, writes of it as follows : 



This grass has received some attention in different parts of the State, and has met 

 with a warm reception from those testing it. It ripens its seeds long before any other 

 grass, and consequently affords a very early nip to cattle. It has been raised under 

 various names in Virginia, as l( Randall grass," and in North Carolina as "evergreen 

 grass." 



Mr. James Taylor, writing from North Carolina, says : 

 The evergreen grass is very good for pasturing through the fall and winter. It will 

 do best when sown on dry land, and is well adapted to sheep. It grows'well on rocky 

 soil to the height of 4 or 5 feet when ripe, continuing green in the spring, and af- 

 fording fine herbage throughout the winter. It is best to sow in the spring, with 

 oats. A peck of well-cleaned seed is enough for an acre, or a bushel in the chaff. It 

 ripens about the first of June. If sown in the spring this grass will not go to seed 

 before the next year, but if sown in the fall it will bring seed the next spring. From 

 the limited cultivation it has met with in Teuneesee, it seems to be better adapted to 

 moist, low lauds, though I have seen it growing on some of the high ridges of East 

 Tennessee, at least 1,500 feet above the sea. There it thrives luxuriantly, and makes 

 a very superior pasture. 



Professor Phares, of Mississippi, says : 



It grows well in nearly all situations, wet or dry, on hill or bottom land, even 

 though subject to overflow, and matures an extraordinary quantity of seed. The 

 seeds germinate readily, and it is easy to set a piece of land with this grass. Seedc 

 alone, 28 pounds, or about 2 bushels of seed, should be sown broadcast in August, 

 September, October, or from the middle of February to the 1st of April. ^Froir 

 maining green through the winter it is sometimes called "evergreen grass." 

 and dried it makes a good hay, much relished by stock. 



(Plate 81.) 



