238 BRITISH GRASSES. 



has discovered that the apex of the larger outer glume 

 is just halfway between the apex of the second floret and 

 its own base ; the spikelets are broad in comparison to 

 their length, and their awns spread widely. By these 

 distinctions the species may easily be recognized when 

 it appears amongst us from time to time in the corn- 

 fields of the south of England. 



It flowers in July, and ripens its seed in August. 



Genus XXXI. FESTUCA. FESCUE-GRASS. 



Gen. Char. Spikelets slender, roundish, two-ranked ; outer 

 glumes erect, unequal, keeled ; flowering glumes lanceolate, 

 somewhat cylindrical, pointed, awned ; scales either two, 

 ovate-lanceolate, and acute, or one concave, notched and 

 horizontal ; filaments three, hair-like, shorter than the 

 flowering glume ; anthers oblong ; ovary turbinate, glabrous, 

 sometimes a little downy ; styles tw r o, short, reflexed, stig- 

 mas downy ; seed oblong, slender, sharply pointed at both 

 ends, marked with a longitudinal furrow. 



1. Pestuca ovina. Sheep's Fescue. 



(_F. duriuscula, F. ccssia, and F. rubra, Eng. Bot.) 



Root fibrous, perennial ; stems upright, angular, roughish 

 under the panicle, smooth on lower part ; sheaths roughish ; 

 leaves very narrow, awd-shaped, only one or two on the stem, 

 growing in dense tufts from the root ; panicle small, short, 

 close, upright, the branches all on one side ; spikelets up- 

 right, containing six florets ; outer glumes acute, unequal, 

 the upper one three-ribbed, the low T er with only one rib ; 

 flowering glume five-ribbed and awned; awn very short, 

 rough; palea with two teeth at the summit and green. ribs 

 on the margin. 



One of the most useful of our British grasses, the fa- 



