Order GRAMINEiE. 
Genus Festuca. 
Sub-Order Festucaceje. 
3.—FESTUCA DURIUSCULA, Linnaeus. 
HARD FESCUE QRASS. 
(Plate LF. B .) 
Festuca duriuscula, Linnaeus. Hook, fil., FI. Tasm., IF, 126. 
Festuca duriuscula, Linnaeus. Hook, fil., FI. N.Z., F, 3 ° 9 ’ 
Festuca duriuscula, Linnaeus. Hook, fil., Handb, N.Z. FI., F, 34 1 * 
A TALL slender, densely-tufted grass. Roots fibrous. Perennial. Flowers December—February. 
Culms 1—2 feet high, glabrous. Leaves slender, involute, filiform, or short and setaceous; sheaths 
with membranous wings; ligule very short. Panicle often unilateral, 1 7 inches long, open or 
contracted, branches capillary, often flexuose, lower 2- or 3-nate. Spikelets few, j—i inch long, 4 8- 
flowered. Empty glumes unequal, acute, 3-nerved. Flowering glume ovate, lanceolate, shortly bifid, with 
a central short stiff awn, scabrid on the nerves. Falea nearly as long as the flowering glume, bifid at 
the top, 2-nerved. Scale acutely bifid, and, in alpine forms, ciliate, ovary linear, crowned with a small 
glutinous patch without hairs. Grain linear, oblong, concave in front. Distribution of Species : 
TEMPERATE REGIONS OF BOTH HEMISPHERES. 
A very valuable grass, occupying a prominent place in all mountain pastures, being productive 
in every variety of soil, and possessing a great capacity of adaptation to both aridity and moisture. It 
is subject everywhere to much variation, and several of the varieties are known by other names. This 
tendency to vary may also be observed with this species in New Zealand, sub-alpine forms sometimes 
being more related to Festuca ovina than the present species; and it is very improbable that these 
varieties have been introduced, the only structural change observed in these sub-alpine forms being 
the presence of cilia on the scales. This species is highly commended by authors as a pasture grass. 
Mr. Sinclair observes of it that “ it is most prevalent on light rich soils, but it is likewise always found 
in the richest natural pastures, where the soil is more retentive of moisture, and it is never absent from 
irrigated meadows that have been properly formed. It springs rather early, and the produce is 
remarkably fine and succulent, and withstands the effects of severe dry weather in rich natural pastures 
better than many other grasses.” The proportional value in which this grass at the time of flowering 
exceeds that at the time the seed is ripe is as 7 to 3. Distribution in New Zealand : COMMON 
IN BOTH ISLANDS FROM 1000—4000 FEET ALTITUDE. 
Reference to Plate LV. B.: Fig. 1. Plant. 2. Spikelet. 3. Floret. 4, 4 '- Nervation of empty 
glumes. 5. Nervation of flowering glume. 6. Nervation of Palea. 7. Scale. 8. Scale of sub-alpine 
form. 9. Section of ovary, showing glutinous patch on top. 
