182 
TRIANDRIA. DIGYNIA. Festuca. 
(Var. 4. Herbage and glumes exhibit a glaucous hue, unchanged by- 
culture. 
E. Bot. 1917. 
F. ccesia. E. Bot. F. ovina y. Sm. Eng. FI. E.) 
(Var. 5. Awnless: more slender in every part; the leaves much longer. 
Spikets smaller, green, acute. 
Leers 8. 4— Pluk. 34. 2— Mont. 4— Anderson — Scheuch. 6. 6. 
F. tenuifolia. Sibth. With, to Ed. 7. Schrad. Gramen capillaceum locus- 
tellis pennatis, non aristatis. Ray 410. F. ovina j8, mutica. With. Ed. 2. 
F. ovina (3. Leers. F. ovina d. Sm. Bullington Green, Oxfordshire. 
Sibthorpe. Crib y Ddescil, Denbighshire; and on the rocks between the 
two pools at Capel Curig. Mr. Griffith. At Prestwick Carr, Northum¬ 
berland. Mr. Winch. E.) 
(Sheep’s Fescue Grass. Welsh : Peisg-wellt y defaid. E.) Dry gravelly 
soil, and on stone walls. P. June.* 
(Sinclair, in Hort. Gram, describes a variety which seems likely to prove 
an acquisition to the agriculturist. He denominates it F. ovina hordei- 
formis , Long-awned Sheep’s Fescue. Panicle compact, branches sub¬ 
divided, upright. Spikets crowded, six to ten-flowered. Root-leaves 
thread-shaped, stem-leaves very long. See PI. in FI. G. E.) t 
F. durius'cula. (Panicle unilateral, spreading; florets longer than 
their awns: stem cylindrical; stem-leaves flat, root fibrous. Sm. 
Gram. Pasc. — {Hort. Gram. — E. Bot. 470. E.)— Ray 19. 1— Leers 8. 2. 
(Much resembling F. ovina, but generally twice or thrice its size; spikets 
large, but varying as well as the pedicels in roughness and pubescence, 
often smooth. Lower-leaves complicate. Colour of the plant generally 
glaucous green; spikets more or less tinged with red. About eighteen 
inches high. Hook. E.) 
Var. 2. Outer valve of the corolla, not the calyx, is finely downy. 
FI. Dan. 700. 
F. duriuscula (3. Huds. Sm. Schrad. F. dumetorum. Linn. With. Willd. E.) 
Hard Fescue Grass. Welsh : Peisg-wellt caledaidd. E.) In pastures, dry 
meadows, and thickets. Walls of Dudley Castle, Worcestershire. Flat 
pastures in Somersetshire, about Highbridge. (Spoonbed Hill, near 
Painswick. Mr. O. Roberts. Anglesey. Welsh Bot. E.) P. June-t 
* It flourishes best in a dry sandy soil: cows, horses, and goats will eat it, but it is 
the favourite food of sheep ; they prefer it before all other grasses, and are said soonest 
to grow fat upon it: for, though small, it is succulent. The Tartars, who lead a wan¬ 
dering life, tending their flocks and herds, always choose those spots where this grass 
abounds. Linn. Such may be its just character in the uncultivated wilds of nature, 
and as it prefers a dry soil, its growth is an indubitable indication of the salubrity of 
such places for flocks of sheep ; but in a more rich and cultivated country, Mr. Swayne 
tells me it is of little value as a pasture grass, being extremely diminutive, nor will it 
remain long in the ground if sown, but will soon give place to more luxuriant grasses. 
(The smallness of the produce renders it entirely unfit for hay, Sinclair. E.) 
*|* (This kind of Fescue is superior to most others in the produce of early, fine, 
tender, and succulent herbage in the spring; and decidedly so to the common sort of 
F. ovina. The culms are well adapted for the manufacture of the finest straw-plat, 
being very distant in the joints, and of an equal thickness throughout. Hort. Gram. E.) 
t Avery excellent grass for the agriculturist, springing very early, being productive 
and grateful to all kinds of cattle, and found in most good meadows and pastures. Rev. 
G. Swayne. (In its native state of growth, no grass stands dry weather better, or makes 
a more firm sward. Excellent both for green fodder and hay, it is well worth cultiva- 
