FESTUCA. 



FESTUCA. 



This circumstance seems to have led to the 

 supposition that it was a biennial grass. The 

 seeds being numerous, the young plants form 

 a most beautiful dark green turf, surpassing, 

 in this respect, every other grass. But this 

 property declines with the spring, when the 

 growth of other grasses becomes general ; and 

 before the time of flowering it is invariably 

 attacked with the rust, which renders its pro- 

 duce of small value, even were it afforded in 

 a quantity sufficient to induce its cultivation. 

 It flowers in the first week of July, and the seed 

 is ripe about the last day of that month. Birds 

 appear to be very fond of the seed. 



Festuca ovina. Sheep's fescue-grass. (PI. 

 6, &.) Panicle small, erect, unilateral, rather 

 close; florets four or five, nearly cylindrical, 

 pointed or awned, smooth at the base and at 

 the edges of the inner valve ; stem from 6 to 

 12 inches high, erect, slender, rather rigid, 

 smooth, leafy below, square in the upper part; 

 leaves very numerous, composing dense tufts, 

 folded, bristle-shaped ; stipuloe very short and 

 obtuse; root fibrous, perennial. The awns ap- 

 pear to be an uncertain character in this grass, 

 as it is frequently awnless, and there are varie- 

 ties of it having awns. All the varieties, how- 

 ever, may be distinguished at first sight from 

 the F. duriuscula, glauca, rubra, &c., to which it 

 is nearest allied, by the compact though simple 

 appearance of the panicle, which more dis- 

 tinctly faces one way. 



Linnaeus affirms that sheep have no relish 

 for hills and heaths that are destitute of this 

 grass. Emelin, in his Flora Siberica, also in- 

 forms us that the Tartars select places for pas- 

 turage during the summer where this grass is 

 in the greatest plenty, because it affords a most 

 wholesome food for all sorts of cattle, but chiefly 

 sheep. Dr. Anderson, in his Agricultural Essays, 

 affirms that it is capable of affording an im- 

 mense quantity of hay. Mr. Curtis, however, 

 in his Practical Observations on British Grasses, 

 very justly combats this opinion, and asserts 

 that it is more fitted for forming grass-plats; 

 but even for this purpose it will only succeed 

 on soils which are nearly as dry and light as 

 that on which it is spontaneously produced. 

 From trials which have been made, the sheep's 

 fescue does not appear to possess the nutritive 

 powers usually ascribed to it. It has, however, 

 the advantage of a fine and succulent foliage, 

 and may, on that account, be better adapted 

 to the masticating organs of sheep than the 

 larger grasses, whose nutritive powers are 

 greater. Hence it may be of some value as a 

 pasture for sheep in situations where it grows 

 naturally. In England it flowers in the third 

 week of June, and ripens the seed about the 

 last day of July. 



Festuca ovina hordeiformis. Long-awned 

 sheep's fescue-grass. (PI. 6, i.) Panicle com- 

 pact; branches subdivided, upright. Spikelets 

 crowded, 6-10-flowered. Root-leaves thread- 

 shaped, stem-leaves very long. Root fibrous, 

 perennial. This grass is much superior to the 

 F. ovina, of which it is considered a variety. It 

 flowers earlier than any of the other fescues, 

 and appears to possess sufficient merit to en- j 

 title it to a place in the composition of the best ' 

 pastures, particularly as a substitute for the F. \ 



(hiriuscula, on soils of a drier or sandy nature. 

 Its nutritive qualities are nearly the same as 

 those of the F. duriuscula, but it is superior to 

 that species, and to most others, in the produce 

 of early herbage in the spring; and the herb- 

 age is very fine, tender, and succulent. The 

 culms are well adapted for the manufacture 

 of the finest straw plait, being very distant in 

 the joints, and of an equal thickness through- 

 out. In England this grass flowers in the last 

 week of May, and the seed is ripe in June. 



Festuca pinnata. Spiked heath fescue-grass. 

 This grass grows chiefly in dry, hilly wood- 

 lands, particularly where the soil is calcareous. 

 It cannot as yet be considered in any other light 

 than a noxious weed ; for, though the weight 

 of the produce is considerable, it is neither 

 early, nor nutritive, nor relished by cattle. 

 This, and the F . sylvatica, which is also an in- 

 habitant of woods where the soil is silicious, 

 may be considered the least useful of the Bri- 

 tish grasses. It flowers about the third week 

 of July, and ripens the seed late in August. 



Festuca pratensis. (PI. 5, d, rf.) The meadow 

 or fertile fescue-grass. Panicle nearly up- 

 right, branched, spreading, turned to one side; 

 spikelets linear, compressed; florets numerous, 

 cylindrical, obscurely ribbed; nectary four- 

 cleft ; root fibrous, perennial. 



Dr. Withering makes this grass a variety of 

 the F. elatior; but it is more justly made a dis- 

 tinct species by Sir J. E. Smith. It differs from 

 the F. elatior in being only half as high, the 

 leaves only half as broad, and the panicle 

 shorter, and containing only half the number 

 of flowers. The panicle is but once branched, 

 droops but slightly, and leans to one side when 

 in flower, and the flowers grow all one way. 

 In the elatior the panicle branches both ways, 

 it droops much at first, and the flowers grow 

 more loosely; the spikelets are rounder, ovate, 

 and pointed, while in the pratensis they are 

 somewhat linear, flat, and obtuse. 



The F. pratensis is eaten by horses, cattle, 

 and sheep, which are all very partial to it. In 

 point of early produce in the spring, this grass 

 stands next to the meadow fox-tail (Alopecurus 

 pratensis), and is superior in this respect to the 

 cock's-foot. 



The meadow fescue constitutes a very con- 

 siderable portion of the herbage of all rich 

 natnral pastures and irrigated meadows; it 

 makes excellent hay, and though a large plant, 

 yet the herbage is succulent and tender, and 

 much relished by cattle, as it does not form 

 rank tufts like the larger grasses. Although 

 essential for permanent pasture, yet this grass 

 is not by itself very well adapted for the alter- 

 nate husbandry, but should be combined with 

 cock's-foot, rye-grass, and rough-stalked mea- 

 dow-grass. The F. pratensis is not so abun- 

 dant in the deep alluvial soils of Lincoln as in 

 the clay districts. In the vale of Aylesbury it 

 constitutes a considerable portion of the most 

 valuable and fattening pastures of that rich 

 grazing district. Mr. Taunton's experience of 

 this grass, grown on a stiff, clayey soil, proved 

 that a copious crop of seed-stalks may be ob- 

 tained the second year from sowing. In Eng- 

 land it flowers in June, and ripens the seed 

 late in July or early in the following month. 



471 



