t 20 5 6 ]
r E S T U C A rubra,
Creeping Fescue-grass.
TRIANDRIA Digynia.
G en. C har. Cal. of 2 valves. Spikelet oblong, somewhat
cylindrical, two-ranked, with sharp-pointed
glumes. •
Spec. C h ar. < Panicle pointing one way. Florets
roundish, awned. Leaves dow ny on the upper side.
R oot creeping.
Syn. Festuca rubra. Linn. Sp. PL 109. Sm. FI.
Brit. 116. Huds. 45. Light/. 102. Hull. ed. 2.
29. StillingJl. Misc. t. 9.
F. repens, a variety o f duriuscula. Knapp, t. 119.
G ram en alpinum pratense, panicula duriore laxa spa-
dicea, locustis majoribus. Scheuchz. Agr. 2 8 7 . t. 6.
/• 9.
/3. Festuca cambrica. Huds. 45. With. 155. Hull. 24.
y. F. glabra. Light/. 1085. Huds. 648. With. 154.
Hull. 24.
S. F. glauca. Winch Guide, v. 2. prcef. 2.
I t is_ very hard to say in this genus what may or may not be
a species, but we feel much inclined to agree with our observing
friend Mr. Knapp, that the 4 supposed species, which we
here reduce to one, are not really distinct even from F. duriuscula,
t. 470. From our figure of the latter its tendency to
a creeping root is obvious. In the plant before us, which inhabits
the loose barren sands of the sea coast, that part is indeed
prodigiously elongated, and acquires long woolly fibres,
a change apparently caused by its situation. In alpine specimens
the same' part spreads less, producing more frequent
herbage. The whole plant is strongest and most rigid on the
coast, as happens in Triticum repens, and occasionally more
glaucous likewise. The upper side of the leaves is very downy,
and their edges involute. Panicle various in size, as are the
awns in length. Florets more or less downy. It flowers in
June.