44 



P. R. WYCHERLEY 



Festuca vivipara Sm. A K L O 



Poa hulbosa L. var. vivipara Koel. K LW 



Poa alpina L. var. vivipara L, K L 



Poa X jemtlandica (Almqu.) Richt. L 



Deschampsia caespitosa (L.) Beauv. var. pseudalpina (Syme) Druce L 



Deschampsia alpina (L.) Roem. & Schult. K L O 



The initials after the plant names indicate Aberystwyth, Kew, London, Oxford 

 and Wageningen. At these places transplanted specimens have retained their vivipar>^ 

 The ranges of the viviparous races and related seminiferous forms overlap, confirming 

 that environment is not a primary cause of the manifestation of vivipary in these races. 

 The degree of constancy of vivipary will be discussed for each species or variety separately. 



4. Taxonomy of Festuca vivipara (L.) Sm. 

 4.1. Historical outline 



Figure 4 shows seminiferous and partially and fully viviparous spikelets. 



Fig. 4. Festuca spikelets. 

 A. Festuca ovina L., seminiferous (x c. 4). B. Festuca vivipara semiviviparae Turess. (x c. 4). 

 C. Festuca vivipara viviparae Turess., with a sketch to show dehiscence ( x c. 2). 



Ray (1690, 184) mentioned Gramen montanum spica foliacea graminea and recorded 

 its growth amidst the summit detritus of the Welsh mountains. In 1703, p. 178, he was 

 more certain his plant was Bauhin's Gramen arvense panicula crispa; since the latter was 

 almost certainly Poa bulbosa var. vivipara, this identification was an error, but an error 

 redeemed by an accurate description of the replacement of the flowers in the panicle by 

 leaves. 



Linnaeus (1737, 56) named this plant Poa spiculis angustis, acutis vivipara. The second 

 comment is the ambiguous " Loco feminum folia angusta, flore longiora protrudit, hinc 

 instar qui in ipsa planta germinat, more animalium viviparum." Linnaeus (1745, 33) renamed 

 this species Festuca spiculis viviparis, but in the Species Plantarum (1753, 73) he reduced 

 it to a variety of Festuca ovina. 



Specific rank was again conferred by Smith (1800, 114) as Festuca vivipara with 

 the comment " Videtur species a priore distincta." However, the property that so clearly 

 marked the species was not its specialised mode of reproduction, but according to Smith 

 (1824, 140) the shape and pubescence of the glumes. It was also noted that sometimes 

 the spikelets are not fully viviparous, the lower florets being unmetamorphosed. 



