Genus. 98. 



12, 



GRASS FAMILY. 



2 73 



Festuca gigantea (L.) Vill. Great Fescue-grass. Fig. 659 



Bromus giganteus L. Sp. PI. 77. 1753. 



Festuca gigantea Vill. Hist. PI. Dauph. 2: no. 1787. 



Culms 2°-4° tall, erect, simple, smooth and glabrous. 

 Sheaths usually overlapping; ligule 1" long; blades s'-i° 

 long or more, bright green, 2"-6" wide, flat, rough ; panicle 

 7'-i2' in length, loose, narrow, the branches erect or as- 

 cending, the lower 2'-4' long ; spikelets 3-7-flowered ; empty 

 scales acuminate, smooth and glabrous, the first 1-3-nerved, 

 shorter than the 3-5-nerved second; flowering scales, ex- 

 clusive of awns, about 3" long, faintly 5-nerved, slightly 

 scabrous, minutely 2-toothed at the apex, bearing an awn 

 6"-8" long. 



In waste places, Maine to southern New York. Adventive 

 from Europe. July-Aug. 



Festuca altaica Trin. Rough Fescue-grass. Fig. 660. 



F. altaica Trin. in Ledeb. Fl. Alt. 1 : 109. 1829. 



Culms i°-3° tall, erect, simple, usually rough below 

 the panicle. Sheaths overlapping, smooth; ligule a 

 ring of very short hairs ; blades rough, 1" wide or 

 less, those of the culm 1-3' long, erect, the basal flat, 

 much longer and readily deciduous from the sheaths, 

 involute in drying; panicle 3'-4' in length, open, its 

 branches ascending or the lower widely spreading; 

 spikelets 3-5-flowered, about 4" long; empty scales 

 scarious, unequal, smooth, the first i-nerved, the sec- 

 ond longer, 3-nerved ; flowering scales about 3" long, 

 scabrous, often bearing a short awn 1" long or less. 



Labrador to Alaska, south to Quebec, North Dakota and 

 British Columbia. Summer. Mistaken for Festuca 

 scabrella Torr. in our first edition. 



14. Festuca confinis Vasey. Watson's Fes- 

 cue-grass. Fig. 661. 



Poa Kingii S. Wats. Bot. King's Exp. 387. 1871. 

 Festuca Kingii Scribn. Bull. U. S. Dep. Agr. Agrost. 5: 



36. 1897. Not F. Kingiana Endlich. 1855. 

 F. confinis Vasey, Bull. Torr. Club 11 : 126. 1884. 

 F. Watsoni Nash, in Britt. Man. 148. 1901. 



Culms tufted, erect, rigid, the base clothed with 

 dry leafless sheaths; sheaths smooth and glabrous; 

 leaves erect, stiff, smooth beneath, rough above, 10' 

 long or less, i"-2" wide, those on the culm much 

 shorter than those of the innovations; panicle strict, 

 narrow, 4-5' long, its branches erect; spikelets 

 usually 3-flowered, 3i"-4" long, the scales acute, the 

 flowering scales strongly hispidulous. 



Meadows, Montana to Nebraska, Colorado and Cali- 

 fornia. June and July. 



18 



