VARIOUS-LEAVED FESCUE. 77 



VARIOUS-LEAVED FESCUE {Festuca heterophylla Lam.) 



Botanical description: Various-leaved Fescue is perennial, 

 forming dense tufts. The stems, which are from two to four feet 

 high, are thin and weak. They are surrounded at their base by 

 leafy shoots, which arise from buds within the sheaths of old leaves 

 and appear from their mouth as in Sheep's Fescue. The shoots are, 

 however, much more numerous than in the latter. The leaves are 

 very long, permanently rolled up and bristle-like, but soft in texture. 

 The leaves of the stems are at first folded and bristly, like those of 

 the basal shoots, but they soon become flat and look very different. 

 This is why the plant is called Various-leaved Fescue. The flowers 

 are in a panicle which is often nodding at the top and generally 

 larger and more open than those of Sheep's and Hard Fescue. Each 

 spikelet contains three to nine flowers, which have awns half or quite 

 as long as the glumes that carry them. 



Geographical distribution : Various-leaved Fescue is a native 

 of southern Europe. In Asia it is indigenous in the Caucasus and 

 Himalayas. 



Habitat: It grows naturally in open woods and along their 

 borders. 



Cultural conditions : It prefers low-lying land where sufficient 

 moisture is available, though it is able to stand considerable drought 

 provided the soil is not too poor and sandy. 



Agricultural value: It gives the heaviest yield the second year 

 after sowing and when old develops into cushion-like tufts several 

 inches high. It is a rather good pasture grass for woodland parks 

 where the soil is not sandy. It prefers shaded localities to open 

 fields. 



Seed : The . commercial supply is collected f rorn wild plants 

 living in woods. The seed is similar to that of Red Fescue, but 

 usually a little larger. 



Good pasture makes fat sheep. — Shakespeare, As You Like It, Act 3, Sc. II., 1601. 



In the Fabian district * * where they are in the habit of irrigating the fields, * * 

 it is a very singular thing that the water kills all the weeds, while at the same time it nourishes the corn, 

 thus acting in place of the weeding hook. — Pliny, Natural History, 23-79. 



