:--. 



GRASS FAMILY. 

 4. Festuca ovina L. Sheep's Fescue-grass. (Fig. 500.) 



Festuca ovina L. Sp. PI. 73. 1753. 



Smooth, glabrous, culms 6 / -i4 / tall, erect, tufted, 

 slender, rigid, simple; no rootstocks. Sheaths usually 

 crowded at the base of the culm; ligule auriculate, 

 short; leaves filiform or setaceous, those of the culm 

 few, i / -3 / long, erect, the basal ones numerous; pan- 

 icle iX'-3' lon g. often one-sided, narrow, its branches 

 short, usually erect or appressed; spikelets 3-5- 

 flowered; empty scales unequal, acute, the first i- 

 nerved, the second 3-nerved; flowering scales i^ // -2 // 

 long, smooth, acute, usually short -awned. 



In fields and waste places, Labrador to British Colum- 

 bia, south to New Jersey, Colorado and California. Vari- 

 able. Probably indigenous northward, but mostly natu 

 ralized from Europe. Native also of Asia. The subarctic 

 and Rocky Mountain var. brevifolia S. Watson, may be a 

 distinct species. June-July. 



The so-called var. wvipara, a state of this grass with tin- 

 scales whollj' or partly transformed into small leav< 

 found on the mountains of New England and in arctic 

 America. 



Festuca ovina duriuscula ( L. ) Hack. Monog. Fest. Europ. 89. 

 Festuca duriuscula L,. Sp. PI. 74. 1753. 



Culms taller and stouter, the panicle usually more open and the flowering *calr* about .{" long. 

 Newfoundland to the Rocky Mountains, south to Virginia and Colorado. Naturalized from Europe. 



5. Festuca scabrella Torr. Rough Fe- 

 cue-grass. (Fig. $< : 



Fustuca scabrella Torr.; Hook. Fl. Bor. Am. 3: *$*. 

 pi. 233. 1840. 



Culms i-3 tall, erect, simple, usually rough. 

 below the panicle. Sheaths overlapping, nootb; 

 ligule a ring of very short hairs; leaves rough, i" 

 wide or less, those of the culm i '-;,' long, erect, the 

 basal flat, much longer and readily deciduous from 

 the sheaths, involute in drying; panicle 3' . 

 length, open, its branches ascending or the lower 

 widely spreading; spikelets 3-5-flowered, abm 

 long; empty scales scarious, unequal, smooth, the 

 first i -nerved, the second longer, j-nerved; Bower- 

 ing scales about 3" long, scabrous, often bearing a 

 short awn i" long or less. 



Labrador and Quebec to Manitoba and Briti*: 

 lumbia, south to California. Summer. 



6. Festuca elatior L,. Tall or Meadow 

 Fescue-grass. (Fig. 502.) 



Festuca elatior L. Sp. PI. 75. 1753. 



Festuca pratensis Huds. Fl. Angl. 37. 1762. 



Festuca elatior var. pralensis A. Gray, Man. Ed. 5, 634. 



1867. 



Culms 2-5 tall, erect, simple, smooth and gla- 

 brous. Sheaths shorter than the internodes; ligule 

 very short; leaves 4 / -i5 / long, 2"-4" wide, flat, 

 smooth beneath, more or less rough above; panicle 

 4 / -i4 / in length, often nodding at the top, simple to 

 very compound, the branches ascending or erect, 2 / - 

 8' long; spikelets s-g-flowered, 4^"-6" long; empty 

 scales acute, the first i-3-nerved, the second 3-5- 

 nerved; flowering scales acute or short-pointed, smooth 

 and glabrous, 2^ // ~3 // long, indistinctly 5-nerved. 



In fields and waste places, Nova Scotia to Ontario, 

 south to North Carolina, Tennessee and Kansas. Natur- 

 alized from Europe and cultivated for hay. Variable. 

 July-Aug. 



