Festuca.] gramine,e. 605 



which it has not been seen wild, and I apprehend the slalion for it in this island 

 to be its larthest known limit to the eastward in Britain. At Poole, in Dorset- 

 shire, as Dr. Bell-Salter remarks, this is not, as here, a corn-plant, but grows in 

 the less frequented streets, between the stones of the pavement. 



The plale of this species in ' Flora Graeca ' exhibits the branches of the panicle 

 curving downwards, and but little waved or flexuose. 



XXV. Festuca, Linn. Fescue-grass. 



" Panicle lax or coarctate. Spikelets many-flowered, more or 

 less laterally compressed, without a bractea on the base. Glumes 

 2, unequal, membranaceous, usually keeled, much shorter than 

 the spikelet. Glumellas 2, lanceolate ; outer rounded on the back, 

 acuminate or awned at or close to the summit, the lateral nerves 

 slightly converging and disappearing below the summit; inner 

 minutely ciliated at the ribs. Styles terminal. Caryopsis gla- 

 brous, free." — Br. Fl. 



* Panicle dose or contracted, unilateral. Spikelets linear, pointing upwards, with 

 very long awns. Lower glume much smaller than the upper or nearly obso- 

 lete. Hoot annual or biennial. 



Vulpia, Gmel. Mygalurus, Link. 



1. ¥. bromoides,Ij. Barren Fescue-grass. "Panicle secund, 

 glumes very unequal, the upper one as long as the lowermost 

 contiguous floret, florets not ciliated scabrous towards the sum- 

 mit. — a. Flowering panicle erect-patent, culm above leafless." — 

 Br. Fl. p. 543. E. B. t. 1411. 



(3. " Panide drooping at the end, culm sheathed and leafy to near the panicle." 

 —Br. Fl. 543. F. Myurus, Sm. (non L.), Host. Gram. Aust. ii. 66, I. 93. F. 

 Pseudo-Mytnus, Koch, confer. Godr. Fl. de Loi-raine, iii. ji. 177. (Vulpia Pseudo- 

 Myurus). 



On wall-tops and dry waste ground, but not commonly. Fl. June. Q ov $ ? 



E. Med. — On the Dover, Ryde. Wall-top in the Spencer road, Ryde. 



(3. In similar situations with a., but very rarely. On the garden-wall at Wool- 

 verton, by Shorwell, but sparingly, 1839. Wall of Thorley churchyard, in some 

 plenty, 1841. 



" Culms 6 — 12 inches high. Leaves linear, setaceous." — Br. Fl. 



0. Much resembles a., but taller, with a much longer closer panicle, a little 

 drooping or rather nodding at the summit, the stem clothed with leaves to the base 

 of the panicle, not naked above as in that. Root a tuft of capillary fibres. Culms 

 numerous, erect, very slender, smooth, shining and angular, more or less genicu- 

 late at the lower joints, pale or purplish, 6 — 12 inches or even occasionally 2 feet 

 in height. Leaves narrow-linear, at first plane, but soon becoming involute and 

 withered, appearing in that condition setaceous. Ligule very short and abrupt. 

 Sheaths loose, smooth and striated, as long as or longer than the leaves, clothing 

 the stem to tlie foot of the panicle, and often concealing entirely some of the 

 lowermost florets. Panicle close and spicate, erect br slightly dnioping, 3 or 4 

 inches to a foot long, slender and feathery, slightly branched in the lower part, of 

 many upright, narrow, unilateral florets, alternate on the roush-edged mnch-com- 

 pvessed rachis, the lower ones more or less stalked, the higher nearly sessile. 

 Glumes very unequal, smooth, the larger linear-lanceolate, green and 3-ribhed at 

 the base, nerveless and membranaceous above ; outer one much smaller, often 

 almost wanting, single-ribbed, very acute. Florets 4 — 6, linear, longer than the 

 glumes, the lowermost floret sessile, the rest on short pedicels. PaletE lanceolate, 

 acute ; outer and larger obscurely 5-ribbed, rough with minute points at the back, 



