46 



P. R. WYGHERLEY 



Vivipary was retained by both fully and partially viviparous plants, the latter bearing 

 both florets and bulbils as in nature. Thus vivipary and partial vivipary are constant. 



Under the rather dry pot-cultivation in London the leaf-blades are shorter and 

 thicker. Perhaps owing to this thickening, the lobing of the auricles, which is a tenuifolia 

 character, appears to be less. However, cultivated plants did not acquire the glaucescence 

 commoner in F. trachyphylla than in F. ovina subspp. Fully viviparous plants must be 

 assigned to a category by leaf characters, and there is an overall tendency for cultivated 

 plants to gain an appearance further to the right in the relationship :- 



F. ovina subsp. tenuifolia -> F. ovina subsp. ovina -> F. trachyphylla 



This is most marked in life, but dried leaves reflect the same bias. Where it was possible 

 to examine inflorescence characters, they were found to be more conservative. 



In Table 2 the thirty-eight specimens are classified, using all available characters. 



Table 2 

 Classification of fescues 





temiif. 



tenuif .-ovina 



ovina 



trachy. 



ruhra-Vike 



Completely viviparous 



7 



12 



10 



1 





Partially viviparous 



3 





4 





1 



The groupings are : Festuca ovina L. subsp. termifolia, plants of mixed or intermediate characters subspp. 

 tenuif olia-ovina, F. ovina subsp. ovina, F. trachyphylla and lastly a plant with many characters closer to F. 

 rubra agg. than F. ovina agg. 



Howarth (1948) states that vivipary is known in all varieties of F. tenuifolia Sibth. 

 and F. ovina L. and in the var. genuina of F. longifolia Thuill. 



Leaf-length/culm-height ratios are probably liable to environmental variation and 

 pot-culture throws doubt on leaf characters. Clearly, then, it is impossible to confine 

 the constantly viviparous fescues to one form approaching that of one of the lower semini- 

 ferous taxa. 



In order to include all British viviparous fescues. Smith's description should be 

 amended to admit plants with glaucous leaves or with lower glumes metamorphosed. The 

 viviparous fescues are a group of asexually reproducing forms restricted in range by 

 their mode of propagation. It is useful ecologically and systematically to include all 

 under one specific name. It is not departing from general usage to adopt F. vivipara Sm. 

 for this purpose. 



4.3. Subdivision o/F. vivipara (L.) Sm. 



Turesson (1926-7, 1930 & 1931) named the seminiferous forms amphimicts, the 

 viviparous forms which had at any time borne flowers amphi-apomicts, and one group 

 of fully viviparous plants, on which he had never found flowers, apomicts. He distin- 

 guished between the usually partially and fully viviparous plants by the names semiviviparae 

 and viviparae. The former are amphi-apomicts, and because of occasional serotinous 

 flower-bearing culms most of the viviparae are also amphi-apomicts. 



The viviparae were divided by Turesson into 18 types constant in cultivation. Wil- 

 mott (in Campbell, 1945) applied this classification to specimens gathered in the field 

 and added a further type. However, many characters such as culm rigidity, shape and 

 laxity of the panicle, size of the bulbils and root development are likely to depend on 



