424 GEAMINE^. (GRASS FAMILY.) 



4. G. pauciflora, Presl. Stems 1 to 3^ feet high from a creeping root: 

 leaves 3 to 12 inches long, scabrous on the margins; sheaths split: panicle 6 to 

 8 inches long, loose, its capillary branches in threes below, in pairs above, 

 flower-bearing from near the middle ; spikelets 2 to 2^ lines long, 4 to 6-flow- 

 ered ; flowering glume b-nervedy scabrous, its scarious tip serrulate or toothed, 

 more or less purplish. — From Colorado and Utah northward and westward. 



44. FESTUCA, L. Fescue Grass. 



Includes both slender-stemmed annuals and perennials, the flowers, and 

 often the leaves, being rather dry and harsh. 



* Annuals or biennials with setaceous leaves : panicle contracted or spike-like. 



1. F. tenella, WiUd. Stems often filiform, 6 to 18 inches high : the erect 

 leaves 1 to 3 inches long ; sheaths sometimes pubescent : panicle 2 to 3 inches 

 long, simple, often secund ; spikelets, including awns, 4 or 5 lines long, 7 to 

 \S-flowered : outer glumes subulate, very acute, the lower at least half the 

 length of the upper : flowering glume involute, rough, 2 lines long exclusive 

 of its awn, which is mostly shoiier than the palet and often very short. — Across 

 the continent. 



2. F. microstachys, Nutt. Stems 4 to 15 inches high, the fihform 

 leaves, sheaths, etc. smooth to strongly pubescent: panicle 1 to 5 inches long, 

 simple and racemose or spike-like; spikelets 1 to ^flowered, on short thickened 

 pedicels, from scabrous to smooth : outer glumes acute, the upper little ex- 

 ceeding or twice as long as the lower : flowering glume 2 or 3 lines long, 

 with an awn Z to b lines in length: palet with 2 long setose teeth. — From 

 N. E. Utah to Nevada and westward all along the coast. 



* * Perennials : the mostly short-awned spikelets in loose, or more or less open 



panicles. 



3- P. OVina, U. Stems 6 inches to 2 feet high, glaucous : leaves all seta- 

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

 less compound, somewhat one-sided, the branches mostly solitary ; spikelets 3 to 

 8-flowered : flowering glume about 3 lines long, ternate, mucronate or with an 

 awn less than half its oicn length. — Mountains of Colorado and California and 

 northward, thence eastward across the continent. 



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

 flat and sheaths pubescent : panicle more open and spikelets larger. — Same 

 range as the type. • 



Var. rubra, Gray. Less tufted, with running rootstocks : leaves some- 

 times flat, and with the spikelets often reddish or purplish. — High alpine 

 form in the Colorado Mountains and far northward. 



Var. brevifolia, Watson. Stems 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, 1 to 2 inches long ; 

 spikelets 1 to 4-flowered, the florets terete and twice the length of the awn. — 

 Bot. King Exped. 389. Same range as the last. 



4. F. SCabrella, Torr. Stems 1 to S or 4 feet high, crowded below with 

 leafless sheaths, and twice longer than the numerous scabrous radical leaves : 

 Stem-leaves rarely more than 2, long-pointed ; sheaths scabrous or rough-pubes- 



