26 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL BEBBABIUM. 



Perhaps do other species of grass is bo polymorphous as Festuca ovtna, the < H<1 

 \V..rld forms of which have been classified into numerous categories. Tl it- North 

 American forme are Ear less numerous, and may be distinguished by the following key: 



KKV K) llIK 8UB8PBC1BB Ol PBBTUCA OTINA. 



Leal blades firm, cylindric or terete even when dried. 

 Lemmas aw ned. 



Leaf blades capillary .:'» to .6 nun. broad. 



Plants 20 to 60 cm. high; panicle 2 to 12 cm. long. 



Lemmas usually scabrous or pubescent ovina. 



Lemmas hispidulons ovina sdaphUa. 



Lemmas foliaceous, the spikelets proliferous ovina < ivipara. 



Plain- 12 to 30 cm. high; panicle 2 to 4 cm. long ovina supina. 



Leaf blades broader 0.7 to 1 mm. broad, 7 aerved ovina duriuscula. 



Lemmas awnlese mi,,,! capUlata. 



Leaf blades smooth, green, soft, becoming longitudinally sulcate in drying. 



Culms 20 to 45 cm. high; Bheaths closed only at base ovina pseudovina. 



Culms 5 to l<> cm. high : sheaths closed their whole length <»r nearly. 



ovina brachyphylla. 

 Leaf l>la<lrs pale or glaucescent, firm, usually harshly scabrous. 



sheaths long-persistent on the innovations, becoming brown and papery. 



ovina caUigera. 

 sheaths not becoming brown ami papery. 



Awns long, nearly equaling the lemma; sheaths not becoming explanate at 



base ovina ingrata. 



Awn- -hoit. one-fifth to one-third as long as the lemma; -heath- becoming 

 explanate at base ovina arizonica. 



15a. Festuca ovina sciaphila (Schur) Asch. A: Graebn. 



Festuca sciaphila Schur, Knum. PI. Transs. 787. L866. "In Laubwaldern hei Her- 



mannstadt. Schuler, Piatra-mare bei Kronstadt. .'i.i^u'. Kalk." 

 Festuca ovina sciaphila Asch. & Graebn. 8yn. Mitteleur. Fl. 2: 4<>s. PKK); op. cit. 



In. lex 41. L903. 

 Festuca ovina hispidula Hack. Mon. Pest 87. 1 s ^l'. "Transsylvania (Kronstadt . 



Silesia I Breslau . Austria inf. (St. Pnlten)." 

 The following specimens have been examined: 

 New York: 



Ithaca. Ooville, June 12, L8fi 

 < Kt \ki<>: 



(.alt. HerrioU, no. l* 1 144. 

 I'.kitish Columbia: 



Bequimalt, M<ic<,n,> 29 7 :;•_'. 

 The last two are iii the Herbarium of the Geological and Natural History Survey 

 of Canada. 



15b. Festuca ovina vivipara L. 



Festuca ovina vivipara L. Sp. PI. ed. 2. 1: 108. 17»i'J. "Habitat in AJpibus Lap- 

 poniae, Helvetiae, Scotiae." 



Festuca vivipara Smith, Fl. Brit 1: 114. 1800. This occurs in North America from 

 Greenland and Iceland to Labrador and Newfoundland. The plant of the White 

 Mountains heretofore referred here is F. rubra proltfera. 



