PIPER — NORTB AMERICAN 8PECIES OF KESTU< \. 



25. Festuca shortii Kunth. 



Festuca shortii Kunth; Wood, Class-book 794. l s »'»l. No locality cite<] ander 

 the original very brief description, but a specimen in Short's herbarium in the 

 Philadelphia Academy of Sciences bears the legend, "Barrens of Meade ( ounty, 

 Kentucky." The tj pe of Wood is probably in bis herbarium preserved in tin- Sew 

 York College of Pharmacy Herbarium. 



Festuca nutans shortii Beal, Grasses V Am. 2: 589. 1896. Reduces above to sub- 

 specific rank. 



/' ituca nutans major Vasey; Beal, 1. <•.. as synonym. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Culms 60 to L20 cm. high, erect, glabrous, Bmooth, 3-jointed; sheaths smooth or 

 striate, glabrous, much shorter than the internodes; ligule very short; blades firm, 

 flat, or loosely involute. 10 to 40 cm. \<>ivj, •"> to 7 nun. broad, Bmooth or nearly 

 so beneath, scabrous above, auriculate at base; panicle erect, 10 to 20 cm. long, 

 bearing many spikelets; rays in :'> to 5 sets, mostly in twos, ascending <»r spread- 

 ing, Bcabrous on the angles, spikelet-bearing above the middle; spikelets pale gregn, 

 oblong-lanceolate, 5 to 7 mm. long, 3 to 6-flowered; joints of the rachilla, cylin- 

 dric, smooth; glumes firm, scabrous on the nerves above, the lower L-nerved, 4 

 nun. long, the upper 3-nerved, 5 mm. long; lemma oblong, coriaceous, smooth, 

 obtusish, obscurely 5-nerved, 4 to 4.5 mm. long; palea firm, smooth, acute, about 

 equaling the lemma. 



This species ranges from Illinois and Iowa to Georgia and Texas. 



26. Festuca versuta Beal. 



Festuca texana Vasey, Bull. Ton*. Club 13: 119. 1886. Type in the National 

 Herbarium, collected by J. Reverchon no. 1618), "shades, upper Llano." 



Festuca versuta Beal, Grasses NT. Am. 2: 589. 1896. Proposes a new nami 

 account of the older F. texana Steud. Syn. PL Glum. 310. 1855. 



Known only from Texas, there collected by Buckley and by Reverchon. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Stems erect, glabrous or somewhat glaucous, nearly concealed by the sheath-. 

 aboul 80 cm. high, 3-jointed; sheaths striate, smooth: ligule very short; blades 

 firm, flat, 20 to 25 cm. long, 4 to 6 mm. wide, auriculate at base, nearly smooth 

 beneath, scabrous above; panicle loose, erect, 15 to 18 cm. long, nearly as broad; 

 rays in :\ or 4 Bets, slender, pulvillate at base and spreading, scabrous on the angles, 

 bearing a few branchlets near the tips; spikelets oblong-ovate, glaucous, 3 to 5-flow- 

 ered, 8 to 11 mm. long; joints of the rachilla cylindric, somewhat scabrous; glumes 

 nearly glabrous, subequal, the lower l-nerved, 5 mm. long, the upper 3-nerved, »> 

 nun. long; lemma oblong-lanceolate, acute or apparently acuminate, coriaceous, 

 Bmooth or nearly so, glaucous, faintly 5-nerved, 6 to 7 mm. long; palea firm, acute, 

 about equaling the lemma. 



27. Festuca johnsoni | Vasey . 



Festuca nutans johnsoni Vasey, < tontr. Nat. 1 [erb. 2: 548. 1894. Type in the National 

 Herbarium, collected at Harrison City, Tex., in 1886, by Mr. Johnson. No other 



specimens have been seen. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Culms stout, erect, smooth, nearly concealed by the sheaths, aboul 80 cm. high; 

 .-heaths striate Bparsely puberulent; ligule very short; blades flat, rather tliiek. 

 acuminate, 20 to 30 cm. long, 6 to 10 mm. wide, scabrous on both Bides, auriculate 

 at baser panicle loose, erect, 10 to 25 cm. long; rays in 3 to 5 Bets, mostly in twos, 



