34 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 



4 to 8 mm. wide, flat, rather firm, smooth beneath, scabrous above, auriculate at 

 base; panicle erect, 10 to 20 cm. long, contracted after blooming, varying from 

 nearly simple to much branched; rays in 3 to 6 sets, rather short, scabrous on the 

 angles, spikelet-bearing nearly to the base; spikelets oblong or lanceolate, 3 to 13, 

 usually 6 or 8-flowered, 9 to 11 mm. long, pale green or more or less purplish; joints 

 of the rachilla smooth, 1 to 1.5 mm. long; glumes lanceolate, the lower 1 to 3-nerved, 

 about 3 mm. long, the upper 3 to 5-nerved, about 4 mm. long; lemma oblong- 

 lanceolate, coriaceous, faintly 5-nerved, 5 to 7 mm. long, scabrid toward the apex, 

 the scarious apex acutish or rarely short-awned; palea about equaling the lemma, 

 oblong, slightly notched at apex, the nerves scabrous, the inflexed sides one-third 

 as broad as the internerve. 



Cultivated and more or less established throughout the United States and southern 

 Canada. 



23a. Festuca elatior arundinacea (Schreb. ) Celak. 



Festuca arundinacea Schreb. Spic. Fl. Lips. 57. 1771. 



Festuca elatior arundinacea Celak. Prod. Fl. Bohm. 51. 1869. 



This subspecies is rather sparingly introdu(;ed. It is larger and coarser than 

 F. elatior, and is conveniently distinguishable by its firmer thicker leaves, the nerves 

 of which are prominent on both surfaces, while in F. elatior the nerves are prominent 

 only above. 



24. Festuca obtusa Spreng. 



Festuca nutans Spreng. Fl. Hal. Mant. 34. 1807. " E. Pennsylvania, Muhlenb." 

 Not Festuca nutans Moench, Meth. 191. 1794. 



Festuca obtusa Spreng. loc. cit. "E. Pennsylvania, Muhlenb." In Muhlenberg's 

 Herbarium in the Philadelphia Academy of Sciences are specimens labeled Festuca 

 nutans, and Festuca sylvatica obtusa. Apparently both these are herbarium names of 

 Muhlenberg, which were first published by Sprengel. Both these specimens are 

 clearly referable to the common eastern plant which has so long gone under the 

 name of Festuca nutans. " 



^ Festuca nutans palustris Muh\. Gram. 166. 1817. From Muhlenberg's brief descrip- 



tion this is merely a form of F. obtusa. It can scarcely be Festuca shortii to which 

 Wood (i referred it. There is nothing so labeled in Muhlenberg's Herbarium. 



Poa nutans Link, Enum. 1: 86. 1821. Based on Festuca nutans Spreng. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Culms erect, 40 to 120 cm. high, glabrous or sometimes pubescent, 3 or 4-jointed; 

 sheaths striate, shorter than the internodes, glabrous or pubscent; ligule very short; 

 blades dark green, flat, 10 to 30 cm. long, 4 to 7 mm. wide, smooth or scabrous 

 beneath, paler and scabrous or sometimes puberulent above, acute, auriculate at base; 

 panicle very loose, 10 to 20 cm. long, often more or less secund, erect or but little 

 nodding; rays in 3 to 5 sets, mostly in twos, pulvillate at base, scabrous on the 

 prominent angles, sparingly branched and bearing a few spikelets near the end, at 

 first erect, then spreading; spikelets pale green, lanceolate, 3 to 5-flowered, 5 to 7 

 mm. long; joints of the rachilla cylindric, glabrous, about 5 mm. long; glumes rather 

 firm, scabrid on the nerves, the lower 1-nerved, about 3 mm. long, the upper 3-nerved, 

 about 4 mm. long; lemma coriaceous, smooth, convex, oblong-ovate, acute or acutish, 

 4 mm. long, the narrow margin hyaline, obscurely 5-nerved, the nerves very obscure; 

 palea firm, equaling the lemma, acute. 



Vermont, Ontario, and Minnesota to Georgia and Texas. 



oBot. &Flor. 399. 1873. 



