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Fig. 581. Festuca myuros Linn. Sp. PI. 74. 1753. Rat's-tail 

 Fescue. — A smooth, slender, erect annual 3 to 6 dm. high, with 

 narrow, involute leaves and contracted, usually one-sided pani- 

 cles 8 to 21 cm. long. Spikelets 3- to 6-flowered, with very unequal, 

 acute empty glumes (a), and narrow, scabrous, slender-awned 

 flowering glumes 4 to 6 mm. long. Awns much longer than the 

 glumes. — Fields and waste places, Massachusetts to Florida, and 

 westward to California and Washington. [Europe.] April-July. 



