Slender Fescue Grass
Slender Fescue. Festuca octoflora Walt.Root annual, often tufted.
Stem 4'-20' tall, slender, erect, wiry. Ligule very short. Leaves bristle-like, 1'-3' long, involute, occasionally downy.
Panicle 1'-6' long, narrow, contracted, often 1-sided, branches short. Spikelets 5-13-flowered, 3"-5" long. Outer scales very acute, slightly unequal, smooth; flowering scales rough, bearing a terminal awn ""-3" long; palets nearly as long as flowering scales. Stamens 2.
Dry sterile soil. May to August.
New Brunswick to Florida, west to Washington and California.