Festuca. GRAMINEiE. 317 



2. F. tenella, Willd. Culms slender, often filiform, G to 18 inches high, its 

 erect leaves 1 to '^ inches long ; sheatlis sometimes pubescent : panicle 2 to 3 inches 

 long, simple, often socund, the lower unequal branches in pairs, often spreading ; 

 spikelets, including awns, 4 or 5 lines long, 7 - 1 3-fiowered, often becoming brown 

 when old : glumes subulate, very acute, the lower at least half the length of the 

 upper : lower palet involute, rough, about 2 lines long, exclusive of its awn, which 

 is mostly shorter than the palet and often very brief : stamens 2. — Torr. Fl. N. York, 

 ii. 470, t. 154, and Pacif. R. Eep. iv. 158 (var. aristulata). 



Napa Valley {Bigelow) ; near San Francisco, etc. {Bolander, Fitch), and extending to Oi'egon, 

 Cronkhitc. Very common in the Eastern States, where as here it is abundant on dry liills. Torrey 

 doubtfully referred Bigelow's specimens to this species, placing it as a variety, but it is no more 

 nnlike the typical form than are specimens from Florida. Indeed where the same spikelet has 

 some florets twice as long-awned as others, varieties founded upon this character have little value. 

 It extends across the country from east to west, and southward to Mexico, Texas, etc. It varies 

 greatly in the degree of roughness of the palet, and the glumes are sometimes pubescent. 



3. F. microstachys, Nutt. Culm slender, 4 to 15 inches high, the filiform 

 leaves, sheatlis, etc., smooth to strongly pubescent; ligule very minute: panicle 

 1 to 5 inches long, simple and racemose or spike-like, or with the 1 -sided channelled 

 rays spreading or sometimes detlexed ; spikelets 1 - 5-flowered, on short thickened 

 clavate pedicels, scabrous, rough-pubescent or sometimes smooth : glumos acute, the 

 upper 3-nerved and little exceeding or twice as long as the 1-nerved lower one, and 

 more than half equalling the floret next it : lower palet 2 or 3 lines long, with an 

 awn 3 to 5 lines in length ; upper palet with two long setose teeth, which in the 

 older plant often project beyond the lower : stamen 1 {Nutiali) : grain large, filling 

 the palet, and with a very broatl shallow groove, its testa dark purple. — Plant Gamb. 

 187; Torr. Pacif. E. Eep. iv. 158; Watson, Dot. King Exped. 388; Thurber, Bot. 

 Wilkes Exped. 492. Vidpia microstachya, Munro in Benth. PI. Hartw. 342. F. gra- 

 cilenta and F. ptosilla, Buckl. in Proc. Acad. Phil, 1862, 97. 



Very frequent through the whole length of the State to Oregon and northward, and eastward to 

 Nevada and Utah. Exceedingly variable, but distinguished from any form of F. Myurus by its 

 larger lower glume, and from F. tenella by its fewer-flowered and looser spikelets and its longer 

 more distinct awn. The spikelets, as well as other parts, present a great variety as respects 

 pubescence ; in Cooper's specimens from the Mohave desert, 1 to 2 inclies high, they bear long 

 scattered spreading hairs. Nuttall, 1. c, refers to its resemblance to a EiUriana (Bouteloua), 

 which is very strong in one of the frequent forms where the 2-flowered spikelets are divergent, as 

 are also the 1-sided branches, while the slightly projecting teeth of the upper palet add to the re- 

 semblance. The species is quite too close to F. delicatula, Lagasca, a rare Spanish grass. 



§ 2. Perennials ; the mostly short-aumed spikelets in loose, or more or less open 



panicles. 



4. F. ovina, Linn. Culms slender, 6 inches to 2 feet high, glaucous : leaves 

 all setaceous or the upper flat ; ligule 2-lobed and auriculate : panicle short, more 

 or less compound, somewhat one-sided, the rays mostly solitary, spreading in flower ; 

 spikelet 3- 8-flowered, the florets somewhat distant : lower palet about 3 lines long, 

 ternate, mucronate or with an awn less than half its own length. — Eeichcnb. Icon. 

 FL Germ. t. 131. 



Var. duriuscula, Gray. Taller, less densely tufted : stem-leaves often flat ami 

 sheaths pubescent : panicle more open and spikeletsl arger. — Man. G33. F. Jnriiis- 

 cula, Linn. 



Var. rubra, Gray. Less tufted, with running root-stocks : leaves sometimes flat, 

 and with the s)iikelets often reddish or purplish. — jNIan. G33. F. rubra, Linn. 



Var. brevifolia, Watson. Culms slender, 4 to 8 inches high : leaves all seta- 

 ceous, and sheaths glabrous ; uppermost leaves often very short and the sheaths 

 rather loose : panicle racemose and nearly simple, erect, 1 to 2 inches long ; spike- 

 lets 1 - 4-flowered, the florets terete, somewhat scabrous, about 2 lines long anil 

 twice the length of the awn. — Bot. King Exp. 389. F. brevifolia, II. Br. 



