FESTUCA. 



245 



3. Festuca sylvatica, Vill. Reed Fescue. 



(F. calamaria, Eng. Bot.) 



Root perennial, creeping, tufted ; stems upright, slender, 

 roughish, two to three feet high, with* broad scales at the 

 base ; leaves broad, flat, acute, glossy, striated, of a light 

 green colour ; sheaths rough ; ligule blunt ; panicle com- 

 pound, drooping, unilateral ; rachis rather rough ; branches 

 roughish, placed in pairs ; spikelets small, numerous, con- 

 taining four or five flowers ; the outer glumes narrow, acute, 

 awl-shaped ; flowering glumes rough, three-ribbed ; the 

 keel toothed, sharply pointed, but not awned ; palea fringed 

 at the margin. 



This is a tall reed-like grass, the panicle small, because 

 the spikelets, though nume- 

 rous, are of minute propor- 

 tions and much crowded to- 

 gether. It is rare ; it makes 

 its home in Alpine woods, 

 and though found in various 

 localities in many parts of 

 Britain, it is nowhere abun- 

 dant. 



It is indigenous in France 

 and Germany. 



It flowers in July. 



F. sylvatica , var. subaris- 

 tata. Awned Reed Fescue. 

 In this form of the Reed 

 Fescue the midrib of the 

 flowering glume extends a little beyond the glume, so 

 as to form a rough point or short awn. It is found, 

 according to Dr. Parnell, in various parts of the United 



