TRIANDRIA— DIGYNIA. Festuca. ]49 



Root somewhat creeping, with downy fibres, penetrating deeply 

 into the mud or clay. Stem about four feet high, reedy, striated, 

 smooth, leafy. Leaves linear-lanceolate, twice or thrice as broad 

 as the preceding, and much longer, many-ribbed, smooth, except 

 at the edges. Sheaths very long, smooth. Stipula much like 

 the last. Panicle a foot or more in length, repeatedly compound, 

 spreading in every direction. Every part is nearly twice the 

 size of F. pratensis. Spikelets ovate, less compressed, rather 

 more glaucous, and less purple. Fl. sometimes with consider- 

 able awns, generally with the rudiments of them, just below the 

 cloven membranous summit of the outer valve of the corolla. 

 Nect. with 4 upright points. 



A coarse but nutritious grass, making sometimes a considerable 

 part of the crop of marshland bay. 



13. F. sylvatica. Slender Wood Fescue-giass. 



Spike simple, drooping. Spikelets nearly cylindrical, turned 

 to one side. Awns longer than their glumes. Leaves 

 hairy. Root fibrous. 



F. sylvatica. Huds. ed. 1. 38. Mart. Rust. t. 1 14. Knapp t. 76. 



Dicks. H. Sicc.fasc. 13. 9. Light/. 103. 

 F. pinnata /3. Huds. ed. 2. 48. 



F. gracilis. " Moench. Meth. 191." Schrad. Germ. v. 1 , 343. 

 Bromus sylvaticus. Pollich v. I. I IS. Fl.Br.l36. Engl. Bot. 



«. 1 1. t. 729. Tr. of Linn. Soc. v. 4. 300. Hull 2(i. Hook. 



Scot. 40. Sincl.273. Pourret jlct. Tolos. v. 3.308. Host Gram. 



v.l. 17. ^.21. 

 B, gracilis. Weig. Obs. 15. t. I. f. \1. Roth Germ. v. 2. p. I. \45. 



Willd. Sp. PI. V. 1. 438. Ehrh. Calam. 107. 

 B. pinnatus. Fl. Dan. t. 164. 

 Triticum n. 1432. Hall. Hist. v. 2. 213. 

 Gramen avenaceum dumetorum spicatum. Rait Syn. 394. 



G. loliaceum corniculatum latifolium, spicis teretiusculis angusti.s 

 et glabris. Scheuchz. Agr. 36. 



In dry copses, thickets, and hedges, not rare. 



Perennial. July. 



Root fibrous, tufted. Stems 2 feet high, or more, round, leafy, 

 simple, smooth or a little hairy 5 very slender, naked, and some- 

 what inclining at the top. Leaves spreading, flat, pointed, ribbed, 

 rough, more or less hairy, bright gi-een ; tawny or yellow 

 towards autumn, but lasting long. Sheaths close, hairy. Stipula 

 short, blunt, notched, or torn. Spike simple, from 3 inches to 

 a span long, drooping at the top, rarely divided at the bottom. 

 Spikelets alternate, sessile, slender, an inch or more in length, 

 generally hairy, inclining more or less to' one side ; their cotn- 

 mon stalk wavy, angular, scarcely rough. Calijx-ghuncs unequal, 

 lanceolate, many-ribbed, hairy ; the smaller pointed ; larger 



