62 Karl M. Wiegand and Arthur J. Eames 



The division by Farwell of the genus Melica into Melica and Bromelica seems to 

 be justified. B. striata and its relatives have little in common with the true Melicas, 

 in which the glumes are awnless, usually broad and blunt, and the upper ones generally 

 convolute about each other. 



3. Festuca L. 

 a. Plants wiry, often low; leaves mostly basal, very narrow, involute or filiform; 

 awns usually present; branches of the panicle solitary, or rarely some in 2's. 

 b. Plants annual, not cespitose ; flowering glumes very narrow, 0.2-0.6 mm. wide 

 when folded ; stamen 1 ; inflorescence generally narrow, spike-like. 

 c. Flowering glumes 2.5-4.5 mm. long, the awn not longer than the body ; culms 

 0.2-0.7 mm. in diam. 1. F. octoflora 



c. Flowering glumes 5-6 mm. long, the awns twice the length of the body or 

 more; culms 0.8-1.2 mm. in diam. [F. myuros] 



b. Plants perennial, more or less cespitose ; flowering glumes 0.5-0.9 mm. wide 

 when folded ; stamens 3 ; inflorescence generally more ovate-oblong. 

 c. Flowering glumes 3-3.8 mm. long, awnless ; spikelets 5-8 mm. long ; leaves 

 capillary. 2. F. capillata 



c. Flowering glumes 4-5 mm. long, short-awned ; spikelets 7-10 mm. long ; leaves 

 narrow but not capillary. 

 d. Basal sheaths whitish, not shredded ; plant very glaucous, densely cespitose. 



3. F. ovina 

 d. Basal sheaths rufous, shredded ; plant less glaucous and less densely cespi- 

 tose, often substoloniferous. 4. F. rubra 

 a. Plants tall and leafy; leaves broad and flat; awns wanting. 



b. Flowering glume 5-7 mm. long; spikelets 9-25 mm. long; panicle branches 



solitary or in 2's, short. 5. F. elatior 



b. Flowering glume 4-4.5 mm. long; spikelets 5-7 mm. long; panicle branches 

 mostly in 2's, very long, spikelet-bearing at the tip. 6. F. nutans 



1. F. octoflora Walt. (F. tenella of Cayuga Fl.) 



Dry sandy or gravelly banks, in neutral or acid soils ; infrequent. May 25-June. 



State road n. side of Enfield Glen; Cascadilla woods (D.) ; Fall Creek woods 

 (D.) ; old street railway grade, Renwick slope; ravine s. of McKinneys; Esty Glen, 

 and ravines northw. ; Taughannock Gorge (ZX). 



W. Que. to B. C, southw. to Fla., Tex., and Calif., including the Atlantic Coastal 

 Plain. 



[F. MYUROS L. 



Roadside near Bailey Hall, 1922 (C. L. Pratt). 

 Native of Europe.] 



2. F. capillata Lam. (See Rhodora 18:235. 1916. F. ovina, in part, of Cayuga 



Fl. F. ovina, var. capillata, of authors.) 

 Lawns and shaded walks, in light soils ; rare. June. 

 President White Place, 1882 (D. in C. U. Herb.). 

 Newf. to Mich., southw. to N. J., including the coastal region. 



3. F. ovina L. (F. ovina, in part, and F. dnriuscula, of Cayuga Fl.) Sheep Fescue. 

 Lawns, roadsides, and fields, preferably in sandy or gravelly soils ; frequent. 



May 20-June. 



Various places about the city, on C. U. campus, and on Cayuga Heights, where it 

 has escaped from cultivation as a lawn grass. It occurs occasionally in woods (pos- 

 sibly native, D.) n. of King Ferry (£>.), at Utt Point (£>.), and on the banks of 

 Cayuga Lake n. of Union Springs (D.) and Aurora (D.). 



Widely introduced in N. A. from En., but probably native farther north. 



