PIPER NORTH AMERICAN SPECIES OF FESTUCA. 35 



25. Festuca shortii Kunth. 



Festuca shortii Kunth; Wood, Class-book 794. 1861. No locality cited under 

 the original very brief description, but a specimen in Short's herbarium in the 

 Philadelphia Academy of Sciences bears the legend, "Barrens of Meade County, 

 Kentucky." The type of Wood is probably in his herbarium preserved in the New 

 York College of Pharmacy Herbarium. 



Festuca nutans shortii Beal, Grasses X. Am. 2: 589. 1896. Eeduces above to sub- 

 specific rank. 



Festuca nutans major Yasey; Beal, 1. c, as synonym. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Culms 60 to 120 cm. high, erect, glabrous, smooth, 3-jointed; sheaths smooth or 

 striate, glabrous, much shorter than the internodes; ligule very short; blades firm, 

 flat, or loosely involute, 10 to 40 cm. long, 3 to 7 mm. broad, smooth or nearly 

 so beneath, scabrous above, auriculate at base; panicle erect, 10 to 20 cm. long, 

 bearing many spikelets; rays in 3 to 5 sets, mostly in twos, ascending or spread- 

 ing, scabrous on the angles, spikelet-bearing above the middle; spikelets pale green, 

 oblong-lanceolate, 5 to 7 mm. long, 3 to 6-flowered; joints of the rachilla, cylin- 

 dric, smooth; glumes firm, scabrous on the nerves above, the lower 1-nerved, 4 

 mm. long, the upper 3-nerved, 5 mm. long; lemma oblong, coriaceous, smooth, 

 obtusish, obscurely 5-nerved, 4 to 4.5 mm. long; palea firm, smooth, acute, about 

 equaling the lemma. 



This species ranges from Illinois and Iowa to Georgia and Texas. 



26. Festuca versuta Beal. 



Festuca texana Yasey, Bull. Torr. Club 13: 119. 1886. Type in the National 

 Herbarium, collected by J. Heverchon (no. 1618), "shades, upper Llano." 



Festuca versuta Beal, Grasses N, Am. 2: 589. 1896. Proposes a new name on 

 account of the older F. texana Steud. Syn. PL Glum. 310. 1855. 



Known only from Texas, there collected by Buckley and by Reverchon. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Stems erect, glabrous or somewhat glaucous, nearly concealed by the sheaths, 

 about 80 cm. high, 3-jointed; sheaths striate, smooth; ligule very short; blades 

 firm, flat, 20 to 25 cm. long, 4 to 6 mm. wide, auriculate at base, nearly smooth 

 beneath, scabrous above; panicle loose, erect, 15 to 18 cm. long, nearly as broad; 

 rays in 3 or 4 sets, slender, pulvillate at base and spreading, scabrous on the angles, 

 bearing a few branchlets near the tips; spikelets oblong-ovate, glaucous, 3 to 5-flow- 

 ered, 8 to 11 mm, long; joints of the rachilla cylindric, somewhat scabrous; glumes 

 nearly glabrous, subequal, the lower 1-nerved, 5 mm. long, the upper 3-nerved, 6 

 mm. long; lemma oblong-lanceolate, acute or apparently acuminate, coriaceous, 

 smooth or nearly so, glaucous, faintly 5-nerved, 6 to 7 mm. long; palea firm, acute, 

 about equaling the lemma. 



27. Festuca johnsoni (Yasey). 



Festuca nutans johnsoni Yasey, Contr. Nat. Herb. 2: 548. 1894. Type in the National 

 Herbarium, collected at Harrison City, Tex., in 1886, by Mr. Johnson. No other 

 specimens have been seen. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Culms stout, erect, smooth, nearly concealed by the sheaths, about 80 cm. high; 

 sheaths striate, sparselv puberulent; ligule very short; blades flat, rather thick, 

 acuminate, 20 to 30 cm. long, 6 to 10 mm. wide, scabrous on both sides, auriculate 

 at base; panicle loose, erect, 10 to 25 cm. long; rays in 3 to 5 sets, mostly in twos, 



