98 THE GENERA AND THEIR SPECIES. 



F. ovaria. Not tufted. 



F. glanca. Glaucous ; leaves rigid, frequently re- 



curved. 



F. vivipara. Leaves growing from glumes 



This grass is the favourite food of South Down and Highland 

 sheep, as Agrostis setacea is that of the sheep of Dartmoor. With 

 its slender stems, tiny panicles, and short, filiform herbage, it is the 

 best grass for lawns if it can be persuaded to establish itself. 

 It is a pasture grass, useless for hay, the smallest species used in 

 agriculture, thriving on poor, light soils, deep in root, and dying 

 off rapidly when manured. In the mountains of the north it is 

 frequently asexual, becoming viviparous instead. The seed is 

 oblong, flattish, dark golden brown, about three times as long 

 as broad. Hard Fescue (F. duviuscula) has a longer seed, not 

 golden brown. It is more frequently sown, owing to its yielding 

 taller herbage ; in fact its leaves are sometimes higher than its 

 panicles. The name is derived from the hardness of the panicle 

 when ripe. In dry seasons it becomes creeping. Red Fescue 

 (F. rubra) is always creeping, and is an excellent pasture grass on 

 poor dry soils, such as railway embankments. 



70. F. elatior. Pastures and swampy ground ; ranging 

 through Europe and Temperate Asia. July and August. Root 

 perennial, creeping, tufted, reaching twenty inches in depth. 

 Stems numerous, erect, smooth, furrowed ; nodes five, blackish. 

 Base of radical leaves round and red, stem leaves auricled, flat, 

 lanceolate, rather broad, ridges prominent, basal margins rough, 

 veins white when held to light, deep green. Sheaths round, 

 smooth ; ligule short, not auricled. Panicle variable, leaning to 

 one side ; rachis triangular, rough. Spikelets ovate-lanceolate, 

 florets five or more. Glumes unequal, occasionally awned, inner 

 with three ribs, outer keeled. Outer palea long, broad, rough, 

 five-ribbed, awns inconspicuous or absent ; inner palea large, 

 acute, edged with a green rib. 



