FESCUE, Festuca, a genus of grasses, very nearly allied to brome-grass (q.v.), and having in some species a loose, in • some a contracted panicle; the spikelets many flowered, with two unequal glumes, which they much exceed in length; each floret having two lanceolate palem, the outer palea rounded at the back, and acuminate or awned at the summit; the stigmas growing from the apex of the germen. The species are numerous, and are very widely diffused over the world, both in the northern and southern hemispheres. Among them are many of the most valuable pasture and fodder grasses. None are more valuable than some of the British species.—MEAnow F. (F. pratensis), a species with spreading panicle and linear spikelets, from 2 to 3 ft. high, common in most meadows and pastures of rich soil, in Britain and throughout Europe, in northern Asia, and in some parts of North America, is perhaps excelled by no meadow or pasture grass whatever. It is suitable both for alternate husbandry and for permanent pasture.—SPIKED F. (F. loliacea)—by many botanists regarded as a variety of meadow F., although it departs from the habit of the genus in having the branches of the panicle reduced to a single spikelet, and forming a two-rowed raceme or spike— is regarded as an excellent grass for rich moist meadows.—HAnn F. (F. duriuscula), a grass from one foot and a half to 2 ft. high, with a somewhat contracted panicle, mostly on one side, is one of the best grasses for lawns and sheep-pastures, particularly on dry or sandy soils. Several varieties are known to seedsmen and farmers.—CREEP ING F. or RED F. (F. rubra) is probably a mere variety of hard F., being distinguished
chiefly by its extensively creeping root, which particularly adapt it to sandy pastures, and to places liable to occasional inundations.—SHEEP'S F. (F. °villa) is a smaller grass than any of these, not generally exceeding a foot in height, and often much less, abun dant in mountainous pastures, and especially suitable for such situations, in which it often forms a principal part of the food of sheep for many months of the year. It is common in all the mountainous parts of Europe, and in the Himalaya; it is also a native of North America, and species very similar, if not mere varieties, abound in the southern hemisphere. Its habit of growth is much tufted.—TALL F. (F. elatior) is a grass of very different appearance, 4 or 5 ft. high, with spreading much branched pan icle, growing chiefly near rivers and in moist low grounds, and yielding a great quantity of coarse herbage, which, however, is relished by cattle.—Of •foreign species, which have been introduced into Britain, F. heterqpkylla best deserves notice, a tall species with narrow root-leaves, and broad leaves on the culm; a native of France and other parts of the continent of Europe, and pretty extensively cultivated in some countries, par ticularly the Netherlands.—All these species are perennial.—Some small annual species occasionally form a considerable part of the pasture in dry sandy soils, but are never sown by the farmer.---A Peruvian species (F. quadridentata), called pigouil in its native country, and there used for thatch, is said to be poisonous to cattle.