GEAMIKEiE. 601 



Leaves flat. Stems 2 to 6 feet high. 



Spibelets 3- to 5 -flowered. Outer glumes linear. Flowering 



glumes narrow 3. Meed IF. 



Spikelets 5- to 10-flowered. Outer glumes lanceolate. Flower- 

 ing glumes broadly lanceolate 2. Meadow F. 



Awns as lo'ig as or longer than the glumes. 



Panicle loose and spreading. Stem 3 to 4 feet . . . . ■ . . . Tall Srome. 

 Panicle one-sided, narrow and compact or spike-Uke. Stems an- 

 nual, under a foot high. 

 Outer glumes narrow, the lowest 1 to 2 lines, the second 2 to 3 



lines long 4. Rat's-tail F. 



Lowest glume a minute scale, the second lanceolate, ,4 to 6 lines 



long , 5. One-glumed F. 



1. Sheep's Fescue. Festuca ovina. 



(Eng. Bot. t. 585, F. duriuscula, t. 470, F. ccesia, t. 1917, and F. rubra, 



t. 2056.) 



A densely tufted or more rarely shortly creeping perennial, 6 inches to 

 near 2 feet high. Leaves chiefly radical, very narrow, and almost cylindrical, 

 the few stem ones more rarely flattened. Panicle rather compact and shghtly 

 one-sided, from 1^^ to 4 inches long, Spikelets smaller than in the meadoio F. ; 

 the glumes narrower, glabrous or downy, very faintly nerved, and almost 

 always bearing a fine point or awn about a line long. 



In hilly pastures, most abundant in dry, open situations, more i-arely in 

 moist places, througliout Europe and central and Russian Asia, from the 

 Mediterranean to the Arctic regions, and in North America and New Zea- 

 land. Abundant in Britain. Fl. summer. In mountain pastures it is very 

 apt to become viviparous, the glumes becoming elongated and leaf-like, and 

 this state has been considered as a species, under the name of F. vivipara 

 (Eng. Bot. t. 1355). Besides wliich the following, among the British va- 

 rieties, are sometimes ranked as species : — 



a. Common sheep's F. Stems not a foot high, with dense tufts of subu- 

 late leaves. In dry, hilly pastures. 



b. Tall sheep's F. {F. duriuscula). Taller but tufted, the radical leaves 

 subulate, one or two stem ones usually flattened. In moister and more 

 luxuriant pastures. 



c. Sand F. (F. sabulicola or sometimes F. rubra) . Rootstock more or less 

 creeping, all the leaves subulate. In light sandy or loose stony places. 



2. MeadoTir Fescue. Festuca elatior, Linn. 



A perennial, varying from about 2 to 4 or 5 feet in height, either tufted 

 or with a shortly creeping rootstock. Leaves flat, but varying much in 

 breadth. Panicle sometimes reduced to a simple spike, vrith almost sessile, 

 distant spikelets, more frequently branched, but always erect and narrow, 

 from 5 or 6 inches to near a foot long. Spikelets 6 lines to near an inch 

 long, containing from 5 to 10 or even more flowers. Flowering glumes, 

 when the panicle is nearly simple, rather broad, searious at the edge, 

 scarcely pointed, and distinctly 5-ribbed ; but the more the panicle is 

 branched the narrower and more pointed are the glumes, with less distinct 

 ribs, and sometimes with a distinct but exceedingly short awn. 



In meadows and moist pastures, on banks and riversides, throughout 

 Europe and Russian Asia, except the extreme north. Common in Bri- 

 tain. Fl. summer, rather early. The three most marked British forme, 

 often considered as species, but now generally admitted to be mere varieties, 

 are the following : — 



3p 



