606 GBAMiNE^. [Festuca. 



and ending in a rough awn more than twice its own length; inner and smaller 

 plain, membranous, with two almost marginal greeu or brownish ribs, its summit 

 bifid and ciliate at the edges. Stamens 3, but often, as in all my specimens, the 

 florets are monandrous. Stigmas white, feathery. 



2. F. uniglumis, Soland. Single-gluniecl Fescue-grass. " Pa- 

 nicle a simple erect 2-ranked subsecund raceme, lower glume very 

 minute, florets not ciliated." — Sr. Fl. p. 543. E. B. t. 1430. 

 Host. Gram. Aust. iv. 37, t. 64 (valde dubia). 



(3. Glumes 3-flowered, flowers monandrous. 



On the sandy shores of the sea, or on dry barren ground adjacent to it. Fl. 

 May, June. 0. 



E. Med. — St. Helens, Wm. Borrer, Esq., in litt., aud where I find it in the 

 loose sand in the greatest abundance, 1839. 



/3. On the Dover, Ryde, 1839. 



Root with copious long capillary fibres. Culms several, spreading, geniculate 

 near the base, usually 6 or 8 Inches high, smooth, clothed almost entirely with 

 the sheaths of the leaves. Leaves subulate, involute, rigid and much shorter than 

 the spikes. Ligule extremely short, membranous, torn. Spikes solitary, erect, 

 about 2 inches long, of numerous unilateral, 2-raDked, narrow spikeleis , on 

 shortish, dilated, simple or sometimes branched stalks, all close-pressed and 

 pointing upwards. Calyx 4 — 8 (lowered, one of its glumes either very short as in 

 /3. or reduced to a minute pointed or bifid scale; I have never seen it wholly 

 wanting; larger glume Wneax, with a long rough avvn. /^/orf(s very narrow, in 

 my 4-tiowered specimens one sessile and opposite the larger glume, the three 

 others pedicellate, the uppermost abortive. Outer palea with an awn greatly 

 longer than itself, often slightly tinged with purple, 3-ribbed; inner one shorter, 

 with two lateral green ribs, acute, fringed and deeply trifid at the point. Anthers 

 yellow. Styles feathery. Seed linear, triquetrous, with a deep groove in front, 

 the dorsal angle acute, horny and purplish, firmly encased by both the pales, 

 glabrous. 



In 13. the suppression of one of the glumes is seldom total, but both are 

 obviously present, the smaller one bearing a very variable proportion to the larger, 

 in some spikelets very apparent, in others on the same spike almost reduced to a 

 point. The florets are uniformly monandrous, which according to Smith has 

 been observed in -F. bromoides by Schrader. One, or at most two, of the flowers 

 only bear a solitary stamen ; the rest are abortive. I am strongly inclined to be- 

 lieve our present species to be simply a form of -F. bromoides. 



** Panicle loose or somewhat contracted, more or less unilateral. Spikelets lan- 

 ceolate. Florets shorter than their awns or awnless. Moot perennial. 



Festuca, And. 



3. F. ovina, L. Sheep's Fescue-grass. "Panicle subsecund 

 subcoarctate, spikelets oblong of about 4 — 7 florets with short 

 awns, leaves flat or involute setaceous, ligule 3-lobed. — a. Culms 

 short somewhat 4-angled and scabrous-pubescent below the small 

 panicle, leaves involuto-setaceous, root fibrous tufted." — Br. Fl. 

 p. 543. E. B. t. 585. Host. Gram. Aust. ii. 60, t. 84. 



/3. duriuscvla. " Culms taller many-angled and somewhat glabrous below the 

 broader panicle, leaves of the culm often flat but afterwards usually involute, root 

 tufted or slightly creeping." ^ — Br. Fl. p. 644. F. duriuscula, X., E. B. t. 470. 

 Host. Gram. Aust. ii. 69, t. 83. 



y. rubra. " Culms usually tall many-angled and glabrous below the often broad- 

 ish panicle, leaves of the culm flat at length sometimes involute, root creeping, 

 the scions ending in erect shoots with distichous leaves." — Br. Fl. p. 644. F. 



