246 



BRITISH GRASSES. 



Kingdom. It flowers in June, and sheds its readily fall- 

 ing seed in July. 



4. Pestuca Myurus, Linn. Rat's-tail Fescue. 



(_Fl bromoides, Eng. Bot. ; F. sciuroides, Bab. Man.) 



Root annual, tufted, fibrous ; stem upright, slender, 

 smooth, cylindrical ; joints smooth, three in number, the 

 highest halfway up the stem ; leaves narrow and awl-shaped, 

 short, smooth behind, hairy above ; panicle simple, long, 

 slender, slightly arching ; rachis rough ; branches rough, 

 angular ; spikelets containing five florets ; outer glumes 

 unequal ; flowering glumes as long as the largest of the 

 outer ones, and furnished with an awn as long as itself, 

 rough, and very slender ; palea thin, lanceolate, toothed at 

 the summit. 



This 



Fescue is a frequent denizen of waste places, 

 rocks, and wall-tops. It is 

 said to be more frequent in 

 England than in Scotland, 

 but we have found it on 

 " dykes/' both about Edin- 

 burgh and in the Isle of 

 Bute. The normal type of 

 this grass has a panicle three 

 inches long, the spikelets 

 turning one way, the awns 

 nearly as long as the spike- 

 lets. It is a starved-looking 

 grass, and soon withers in 

 drought. It is of no agri- 

 cultural value. 



Difference of situation af- 



