FEsTUCA PRATENSIS. MEADOW FESCUE-GRASS. 
FESTUCA. Linn. Gen. P. Trianpria Dicynia. 
Cal. 2-valvis.' Spicula oblonga, teretiufcula, glumis acuminatis. 
Raii Sym. Gen. 27. HERBA GRAMINIFOLIA FLORE IMPERFECTO CULMIFERA. 
FESTUCA pratezfis panicula fecunda obliqua, fpiculis muticis fublinearibus, foliis planis. 
FESTUCA elarior Linn. Fl. Suec. n. 94. 
FESTUCA pratenjis panicula ereéta, fpiculis linearibus muticis, foliis planis. — Hudfon Fl. Angl. ed. 1. 
A 87. | 
GRAMEN paniculatum elatius, fpicis longis, muticis, fquamofis. Raz Syn. p. 411. 16. Scheuch, 
Agroft. p. 202. 2. 
PHOENIX multiplici fpicata panicula. Branched Darnel-Graffe. Park. Theat. p. 1145. 
GRAMEN loliaceum panicula multiplici et fpicata. Tourn. 17/7. p. 516. Scheuch. Agroff. p. 200. 1. 

In the environs of London the Fe/tuca pratenfis is a very common grafs, growing fpontaneoufly in fituations 
widely varied; we have obferved it in the fand-pits at Charlton, and the ofier grounds near Batterfea; alfo in 
various paftures, and by the fides of paths; but it abounds moft in fertile meadows which are moderately moift: 
in many parts of Batterfea meadows it may be found moft plentifully. 
It flowers about the middle of June; feed from a crop of it fown on ground which I occupy at Brompton, 
was ripe and cut by the end of the fame month. 
From long cultivation we have obferved this grafs continue perfectly diftinét, and as we have found it to be a 
very hardy perennial, producing a great crop of defirable herbage, we have recommended it * as one of the 
beft of our Britifh grafles. * CA. is 
Except in fize, arifing from luxuriance of foil, it is not fubje&t to much variation. 
Several authors have confounded this fpecies with the e/atsor, to which it certainly bears great affinity: 
Morison and Ray, two of our early writers have the credit of confidering them as diftindt. Ray, in his 
Hift. PI. has happily difplayed the character of the prazenfis, and Morison has well defcribed and figured the . 
elatior; it appears clearly alfo from the following words, which we find at the clofe of the latter's defcription of 
the e/atior, that he regarded the pratenjis as a difiin& fpecies, * alterum in pratis dimidio minus ejufdem forme 
frequens invenitur, et tanquam diftinéte fpeciei habendum.”—ScHEUCHZER gives a minute defcription of the 
pratenfis, making two varieties of it without any very apparent reafon : it is remarkable that Linn aus does not 
refer to this author either for his e/atzor or his variety of it. VAILLANT, as is evident from his references to 
Ray’s two plants, confiders the e/azzer and pratenfis as the fame, though LiwwAus in his F7 Suec. and Spec. 
Plant. confounds two plants in his references, and quotes indeed a figure in Ban RELIER, which is neither e/atior 
nor $ratenfrs, but the Feffuca pinnata Hudf. ed. 2. yet we fufpect t from what he fays of its place of growth, &c. . 
for his fpecific defcription is a very inadequate one, that our, praten/is 1s his elatior; his var. 8 of the e/atzor in 
the Sp. P. ed. 3. 1s clearly our e/azior, but in the Syf. Vegetab. ed. 14. his laft work, the e/az/er from a new 
reference to SCHEUCHZER is evidently made our e/afior, and the variety is wholly loft fight of Mr. Hupsow, 
in the firft edition of his FZ 4727. gave to this grafs the name of pratenfis, which, as the plant is chiefly found 
in meadows, is an extremely proper one, and as fuch we moft readily adopt it: in the 2d edition of the fame 
work, by fome unaccountable miftake, for fuch it muft be, he has been induced contrary to the opinion of all 
Botanifts to confider it, together with the /o/acea as varieties of the Feffuca fluitans, aflerting that they change to 
it when cultivated +. We mult obferve that this is not only contrary to our experience in regard to culture, 
but that we have frequently, and this feafon particularly, obferved the pratenfis growing in feveral wet fpots in 
Batterfea meadows, clofe to the fucrans, and that both the graffes affumed their ufual appearance; not to mention 
the different habits of thefe plants, the different form of their fpicule, &c. the fuztans has a nectary differing | 
widely from that of the prarenfis, elatior, or Jolracéa, and which alone would remove any doubts, could fuch be 
really entertained on this fubject. 
The prazenfis differs from the e/azzer in its ufual place of growth; we have indeed found them growing clofe 
together; but betwixt Batterfea and Vauxhall, where thefe plants grow abundantly, the e/arsor ufually grows 
feparately from the prarenfis ; and as we have before obferved in the ofier grounds, where it has the advantage of 
moifture and fome fhade; the razenfir grows more difperfed in the open meadows, not forming fuch large tufts 
as the e/arior, the c/atior taking plants of equal ftrength and age, and which is to be underftood through the 
whole of the fubfequent comparifon, is ufually, nearly twice as high, and has foliage twice as broad, as that of 
the pratenjis; the panicle in the e/atsor is not only much longer, but contains a far greater number of flowers, 
in ‘the proportion of 64. to 128 taken from medium {pecimens ; the panicle in the pratenfis is ufually once 
branched, in the other twice; in the e/atior it droops greatly at firft; in the prazenfs but flightly; in the latter it 
leans to one fide when in flower, and the flowers grow one way; in the e/rer they grow more loofely, fpreading 
more on all fides, but the fpicula afford one of the moft obvious diftinétions ; in the pratenjfis thefe are fomewhat 
flat, linear, and obtufe; in the e/az/er more round, ovate, and pointed. | j i 
Thefe two plants differ alfo about a fortnight or three weeks in their time of flowering. 


Fig. 1. Spicula. Q Fig. 1. One of the Spicule. 
o. Glume Calycine. : 2. Glumes of the Calyx. 
3, 4. Glune Corollacee. a. A. Corolla. 
T Neétarta. 5. The Neclartes. 
6. Stamina. Ó 6. The Stamina. 
7: Piftillum. d 7. The Piflillum. " 
8. Semen glumis inclufum. 6 8. The Seed enclofed within the Glumes. 
g. Semen denudatum. Q g. The Seed taken out. 
& Vid. Pra&ical obfervations on the Britifh graffes beft adapted for laying down or improving of meadows and paftures. 
t Since the above was written we have had the fatisfaction to learn from Mr. AFZELIUS, a Swedifh Botanift of the firft eminence now in 
London, who had the honour of being a pupil to Linn aus, and who meditates a new edition of the FI. Suec. of that illuftrious author, that the 
pratenfis here figured is indifputably the elatior of the Fl. Suec. a name Linnaus had been induced to give it from its being the talleft feftuca, he 
had then feen growing, for it appears that he was at that time a ftranger to our Feftuca elatior. 
+ a (Feftuc. fluitans) fata in hortis mutatur in £ (lolicea) et y. (pratenfis) primo anno in @ fecundo in y. Hudf. Fl. Angl. ed. 2. p. 47. 
