Genus 98. 



GRASS FAMILY. 



271 



6. Festuca ovina L. Sheep's Fescue-grass. 



Fig. 653. 



Festuca ovina L. Sp. PI. 73. 1753. 



Festuca ovina duriuscula Hack. Monog. Fest. Europe 89. 

 1882. 



Smooth, glabrous, culms 6'-2° tall, erect, tufted, 

 slender, rigid, simple; no rootstocks. Sheaths usually- 

 crowded at the base of the culm; ligule auriculate, 

 short; blades filiform or setaceous, those of the culm 

 few, i's' long, erect, the basal ones numerous; pan- 

 icle i¥-& long, often one-sided, narrow, its branches 

 short, usually erect or appressed; spikelets 3-5-flow- 

 ered; empty scales unequal, acute, the first i-nerved, 

 the second 3-nerved; flowering scales ii"-3" long, 

 smooth, acute, short-awned. 



In fields and waste places, New Hampshire to North 

 Dakota, New Jersey, Kentucky and Iowa. Variable. Prob- 

 ably indigenous northward, but mostly naturalized from 

 Europe. Native also of Asia. Black-twitch-grass. Hard 

 Fescue. June-July. 



The so-called var. vivipara, a state of this grass with the scales wholly or partly transformed 

 into small leaves, is found on the mountains of New England and in /arctic America. 



7. Festuca brachyphylla Schultes. Short-leaved Fescue-grass. Fig. 654. 



Festuca brevifolia R. Br. Append. Parry's Voy. Suppl. 



289. 1824. Not Muhl. 181 7. 

 Festuca brachyphylla Schultes, Mant. 3 : Addit. 1, 



646. 1827. 

 Festuca ovina L. var. brevifolia S. Wats, in King's 



Rep. U. S. Geol. Expl. 40th Paral. 5 : 389. 1871. 



Smooth and glabrous. Culms densely tufted, 

 6' or less tall, slender, erect, much exceeding the 

 short basal leaves; sheaths coarsely striate; ligule 

 a short scarious ring; blades very narrow, invo- 

 lute, at least when dry; those on the culm ¥ or 

 less long, erect or ascending; panicle 1' or less 

 long, nearly simple, its branches appressed ; spike- 

 lets 2-4-flowered, the empty scales acuminate, the 

 first 1 -nerved, the second 3-nerved; flowering 

 scales acute or acuminate, rough toward the 

 apex, 2"-2i" long, exclusive of the scabrous awn 

 which is i"-i|" long. 



Newfoundland to British Columbia, the higher 

 mountains of Vermont, and the Rocky Mountains to 

 Colorado. Summer. 



8. Festuca capillata Lam. Filiform Fescue- 

 grass. Fig. 655. 



Festuca capillata Lam. Fl. Franc. 3 : 598. 1778. 

 Festuca ovina capillata Hack. Bot. Centrb. 8 : 405. 1881. 



Densely tufted. Culms erect with a decumbent 

 base, 6'-is' tall, slender, smooth and glaucous, shin- 

 ing; sheaths smooth, longer than the internodes, 

 confined to the base of the culm; ligule a short 

 membranous ring; blades filiform, smooth or rough, 

 the basal ones from one-third to one-half as long as 

 the culm, the culm leaves i'-ii' long; panicle con- 

 tracted, ¥-2' long, its branches erect, ¥ or less long; 

 spikelets 2"-2l" long, 4-5-flowered ; outer scales 

 empty, unequal, the first acuminate, the second acute ; 

 flowering scales about ii" long, unawned, acute. 



Fields and roadsides, Newfoundland to New Jersey 

 and Michigan. Introduced from Europe. June-July. 



