MANUAL OF THE GRASSES OP THE UNITED STATES 



61 



Section 1. Vulpia (Gmel.) Reichenb. 



Slender annuals; lemmas awned; stamens usually 1, sometimes 3; 

 flowers usually self -pollinated. Some of the species, especially 

 numbers 7 to 13, resemble each other closely. The differences, 

 though small, appear to be constant, hence the recognizable 

 forms are maintained as species, rather than reduced to varieties 

 under leading species. 



1. Festuca 

 octoflora 



Walt. Six- 



Figure 59.— Distribution of 

 Festuca sciurea. 



cm 



WEEKS FES- 

 CUE. (Fig. 

 58, A) Culms 

 erect, usually 

 15 to 30 cm 



tall, sometimes as much as 50 

 blades narrow, involute, 2 to 10 cm 

 long; panicle narrow, the branches 

 short, appressed, rarely spreading; 

 spikelets 6 to 8 mm long, densely 5- 

 to 13-flowered; glumes subulate- 

 lanceolate, the first 1 -nerved, the 

 second 3-nerved, 4 mm long; lemmas 

 firm, convex, lanceolate, glabrous or 

 scabrous, 4 to 5 mm long, the mar- 

 gins not scarious; awn commonly 

 2 to 5 mm long. O (F. tenella 

 Willd.) — Open sterile ground, 

 throughout the United States and 

 southern Canada at low altitudes, 

 extending into Baja California. Fes- 

 tuca octoflora var. hirtella Piper. 

 Plants low and spreading; foliage 

 sometimes pubescent; lemmas hir- 

 tellous or pu- 

 bescent. O 

 — Texas to 

 southern Cali- 

 fornia, south- 

 ward in Baja 

 California and 

 northward to 



Nevada, Montana, and Washington. 

 2. Festuca sciurea Nutt. (Fig. 58, 

 xi; B.) Culms erect, 15 to 50 cm tall; 

 blades less than 1 mm wide, often 

 capillary, soft, mostly involute, 1 to 10 cm long; panicle narrow, 5 to 

 20 cm long; spikelets 4- to 6-flowered, 4 to 5 mm long; first glume 

 2 mm long, the second 3.5 mm long; lemmas 3 to 3.5 mm long, 

 sparsely appressed-pubescent ; awn 6 to 11 mm long. O ■ — Open 

 ground, Maryland to Florida, west to Oklahoma and Texas (fig. 59). 

 3. Festuca megalura Nutt. Foxtail fescue. (Fig. 60.) Culms 

 20 to 60 cm tall; sheaths and narrow blades glabrous; panicle narrow, 



Figure 61.— Distribution of 

 Festuca megalura. 



Figure 60.— Festuca megalura. Panicle, 

 spikelet, X 5. (Leiberg 150, Oreg.) 



