FESTUCA LOLIACEA.{ Hudson's Flora Ang.
Spiked Fescue.
Spec. Char. Stipuke several, sitting, and without aristae; calyx valves very unequal,
acute, and ribbed.
T his spiked Fescue-grass will be found, though not universally, in the moist and rich soils both of
uplands and meadows, from the middle of summer till autumn, but without attention will occasionally
be passed over as a luxuriant plant of Lolium perenne, but the length of the lower spiculae, and the
shortness of the upper ones, will generally arrest the attention: the number of florets in each spicula
is very uncertain, from eight to twenty ; leaves shining, on the outside, and smooth; on the inner,
scored, and a little rough, and the margins minutely serrated: straw knee-bent at the base, as observable
in the preceding species.------This plant was known to Mr. Hudson, but by him considered as a
variety of the Poa fluitans, which by cultivation changed the first year to F. loliacéa, and the second
into F. pratensis—a most singular transformation!! Erroneous as this idea probably was, yet there
are reasons to believe that our Festuca is a compound plant, manifesting great similarity to Lolium
and Festuca in the spike, and to Festuca pratensis in the foliage and lower parts, equally dividing the
nature of each parent.------ Festuca loliacea we believe, as is usual with hybrid plants, rarely perfects
its seed, but the valves of the corolla at times appear distended, as containing a well matured germin,
protruding ultimately a large black and unprolific grain; the race however is continued by the fibrous
perennial root detaching abundant suckers, and the lower joints of the culm, in moist seasons, take
root and become distinct plants.
We have very few of our pasture grasses that afford herbage equal to this spiked Fescue; the
abundant foliage of the Festuca pratensis is produced, meliorated and rendered grateful to cattle, by
its admixture with thé Ray-grass. If the soil is moist, and the staple deep and rich, the after-grass
(which to many is the most important part of the crop) is singularly abundant; but our difficulty
consists in the introduction of this plant into the pasture, which, as furnishing no fertile seed, must
be propagated by sets; a mode that will hardly be attempted, the labour and expence being immediate,
the profit very uncertain and remote. We occasionally find this Festuca producing branched spikets
at the base, and at other times the larger valve of the corolla becomes elongated, assuming the form
of leaves, giving the spike the appearance of being viviparous.
A, the Calyx.
B, the outer valve of tire Calyx enlarged.
C, the Corolla.