ENGLISH BOTANT. 
Scb-Species I. — Festuca ambigua. Le Qaii. 
Plate JVIDCCLXXX. 
Bab. Eng. Suppl. Bot. No. 2970. Man. Brit. Bot. ed. ii. p. 418. 
r. Mynrus proper, var. ambigua. Eooh. fil. Stud. Fl. p. 449. 
r. Pseado-mjurus, var. Lloijd, Fl. de I'Ouest de la Fr. ed. ii. p. 589. 
F. uniglumis, yar. ft, Broynf. Fl. Yect. p. 606. 
Yulpia ambigua, A. G. More, Proceed. Linn. Soc. Lon. Botany, Vol. VI. p. 190. 
Stems erect or ascending, decumbent and geniculate at the base. 
Uppermost sheath, reaching nearly or quite up to the panicle. 
Panicle erect, occupying from one-third to one-half of the whole 
length of the stem, dense, continuous, fusiform-semi-cylindrical, 
distichoiisly unilateral, branched towards the base only. Lowest 
panicle-branches from one-sixth to one-third the length of the panicle, 
closely adpressed. Upper glume subobtuse, mucronate, 3 to 6 times 
as long as the lower one, and from one -fourth to one-half the length 
of the contiguous floret, exclusive of the awn of the latter. Florets 
purplish-brown, slightly enlarged upwards after flowering. Lower 
pale not ciliated, punctate-scabrous. 
On loose blown sand. Yery local. At St. Helen's Spit, Isle of Wight 
(Mr. A. G. More). On the Dover, Ryde, Isle of Wight (Dr. Brom- 
field), in 1839, but I am informed that this station is now built upon. 
England. Annual. Early Summer. 
Stems numerous, 3 to 15 inches high, in luxuriant examples 
with branches produced from the nodes terminating in small panicles, 
but in weak specimens these branches are wanting. Leaves 2 to 4 
inches long, very narrow, convolute, the upper ones slightly glaucous. 
Panicle very dense, 2 to 6 inches long by |- to | inch broad in the 
middle, and tapering to each end. Spikelets 3- to 7-flowered, to f 
inch long, exclusive of the awns, at first pale yellowish-green, but 
soon becoming tinged with reddish or purphsh-brown. Awns pale 
brown. Rachis often purple. 
Yery similar in habit to F. uniglumis, but with the panicle tapering 
more towards the apex, and branched at the base, though the branches 
are so closely applied to the rachis that they are not visible until the 
plant is closely examined. The spikelets are much smaller and the 
awns longer in proportion; the glumes less unequal and the outer 
one always present, neither of them awned, and the stamen only 1. 
In cultivation at Balmuto from the Isle of Wight specimens sent me 
by Mr. F. Stratton, the panicle becomes more slender and rather less 
dense, but in other respects the plant remains unaltered. 
Ambiguous Fescue- Grass. 
