216 GRAMINEAE. 



i. Festuca octoflora Walt. Slender Fescue-grass. (Fig. 497.) 



Festuca octoflora Walt. Fl. Car. 81. 1788. 

 Festuca tenella Willd. Enum. i: 113. 1809. 



Culms 4 / -i8 / tall, erect, from an annual root, 

 slender, rigid, simple, smooth and glabrous. Sheaths 

 usually shorter than the internodes; ligule very 

 short; leaves i>i / -3 / long, involute, bristle-form; 

 raceme or simple panicle often one-sided, \ f ->' in 

 length, contracted, its branches erect, or rarely as- 

 cending; spikelets 6-13-flowered, 3 // -5 // long; empty 

 scales acute, smooth, the first i -nerved, more than 

 half the length of the 3-nerved second one; flowering 

 scales, exclusive of awns, i^ // -2^ // long, usually 

 very scabrous, acuminate into an awn nearly as long 

 as the body or shorter, or sometimes awnless; 

 stamens 2. 



Dry sandy soil, Quebec to British Columbia, south to 

 Florida, Texas and California. Leaves sometimes pubes- 

 cent. June-Aug. 





2. 



Festuca Myuros L,. Rat's-tail Fescue-grass. (Fig. 498.) 



Festuca Myuros L- Sp. PI. 74. 1753. 



Smooth, glabrous, culms i-2 tall, erect from an 

 annual root, slender, simple. Sheaths often shorter 

 than the internodes, the upper sometimes enclosing 

 the base of the panicle; ligule y 2 " long, truncate; 

 leaves 2 / -5 / long, subulate, involute, erect; panicle 

 usually one-sided, 4 / -i2 / in length, contracted, some- 

 times curved, its branches appressed; spikelets 3-6- 

 flowered; empty scales very unequal, acute, smooth, 

 the first i-nerved, less than half as long as the 3-nerved 

 second one; flowering scales, exclusive of the awns, 

 2 //_y/ long, narrow, scabrous, acuminate into an awn 

 much longer than the body; stamen i. 



In waste places and fields, eastern Massachusetts to New 

 Jersey and Florida. Also on the Pacific coast. Natural- 

 ized from Europe. June-July. 



3. Festuca rubra L,. Red Fescue-grass. (Fig. 499.) 



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



Culms i^2-2%, tall, from running rootstocks, erect, 

 simple, smooth and glabrous. Sheaths usually shorter 

 than the internodes; ligule very short, truncate; basal 

 leaves involute-filiform, 3 / -6 / long; culm leaves 

 shorter, erect, flat or involute in drying, minutely pu- 

 bescent above; panicle 2 / -5 / in length, sometimes red, 

 open at flowering time, contracted in fruit; spikelets 

 3-io-flowered, 4 // -6 // long; lower scales acute, un- 

 equal, the first i-nerved, shorter than the 3-ner\.d 

 second; flowering scales about 3'' long, obscurely 5- 

 nerved, sometimes scabrous, bearing awns of less 

 than their own length. 



Labrador to Alaska, south, especially on the mountains, 

 to Tennessee and Colorado. Also in Europe and Asia. 

 Summer. 



