140 TRIANDRIA— DIGYNIA. Festuca. 



for a very glaucous hue in the herbage and glumes, which is un- 

 changed by many years' culture. But several circumstances have 

 of late convinced me, that such a hue will not always, as I once 

 thought, afford a specific character, and I concur with my friend 

 Professor Hooker in abolishing this as a species. 



2. F. vivipara. Viviparous Fescue-grass. 



Panicle unilateral, rather close. Florets compressed, keeled, 

 awnless, somewhat downy, as well as the edges of their 

 inner valve, and the calyx. Stem square. Leaves folded, 

 bristle-shaped, smooth. 



F. vivipara. Fl. Br. 1 14. Engl. Bot. v. 19. t. 1355. Knapp t. 67. 



Sincl. 131. Bon H. Brit. 154. 

 F. ovina /3. Linn. Sp. PL 108. WiUd. v. 1. 419. Hook. Scot. 38. 



F. ovina y. Schrad. Germ. v. 1. 320. 



Gramen sparteum montanum, spica foliacea graminea, majus et 

 minus. Raii Syn. 410. t. 22. f. 1. 



G. paniculatum sparteum alpinum, panicula angusta, spadiceo- 

 viridi, proliferum. Scheuchz. Agr. 213. Prodr. 21. t. 1. 



On the tops of the loftiest mountains. 



On Ingleborough, Skiddaw, Snowdon, and most of the Scottish 

 mountains. 



Perennial. Jult/. 



The root, leaves, and general habit, nearly agree with the last, of 

 which most botanists have esteemed this plant a variety. Though, 

 of course, aware of the strange alterations which take place in 

 viviparous grasses, I have been induced to make a species of this, 

 on account of the diversity of shape in the outer valve of each 

 floret, which is not cylindrical, but ovate, compressed and keeled, 

 as vrell as all over downy. These characters are seen in the very 

 few .pikelets which are not viviparous. In those that are, the 

 lowermost_^orefs are greatly elongated, and strongly ribbed, the 

 upper gradually transformed into leaves, so that each spikelet 

 becomes a bud ; for it is not the case with this, as in many other 

 viviparous grasses, that the seed merely vegetates irt the husk, 

 like corn in a wet harvest. There are, in fact, no organs of im- 

 pregnation, nor any form or traces of a real seed. Botanists who 

 can examine the plant at leisure, in its wild state, may perhaps 

 meet with specimens bearing some perfect ^/ojt-ers, and the 

 corolla will then settle the question. I leave it to their decision. 

 Mr. Sinclair, who has well described the progress of this grass, 

 justly asserts that it remains entirely viviparous in a garden. 

 What he terms the germen, I presume to be the rudiment, or 

 heart, of the bud, or gemma, originating in the w^^ev floret of 

 each spikelet. 



The folded edges of the inner valve of the corolla, when it can 

 be found, are always downy. 



