Festuca ovina var. rydbergii L.
Sheep Fescue

Habit: 		Densely tufted perennial.
Culm: 		15-60 cm. tall, densely tufted.
Blade: 		Leaf-blades pale-green, capillary, involute, firm, mostly clustered at the base,
		the basal ones 5-12 cm. long, those of the culm very short.
Inflorescence: 	Panicle short, narrow often contracted after blooming, 5-10 cm. long.
Spikelets: 	5-7.5 mm. long, 3-6 flowered, usually pale; florets close, the flowers perfect
		or the upper ones staminate, the rachilla articulate between the flowers.
Glume: 		2, unequal, keeled, narrow acute, the first mostly 1-nerved, the second 3-nerved.
Lemma: 	Rounded on the back at least below, acute, smooth or slightly scabrous, 3-7-nerved,
		3-4 mm. long, attenuate into a short awn 1-3 mm. long.
Palea: 		About equaling the lemma.
Habitat: 	Mountains, fields and waste places, cultivated in lawns and escaped
		southward to New York, Kentucky, Iowa and Kansas.  June-July.
Kansas Range:	Ellis and Saline counties.
Use: 		In Kansas occasionally in lawn mixtures.