Fescue

Fescue (Festuca), a large and widely diffused genus of grasses, very nearly allied to Brome-grass (q.v.), and including many of the most valuable pasture and fodder grasses—e.g. Meadow Fescue (F. clator, var. pratensis), with the allied Tall Fescue (var. arundinacea), Sheep's Fescue (F. ovina), of which as many as eight varieties are enumerated, but of which, besides the common form, (var. vulgaris) only Hard Fescue (var. duriuscula) is of agricultural importance. Red Fescue (F. rubra) has also the important varieties, creeping (var. genuina), tufted (var. fallax), various-leaved (var. heterophylla), and violet (var. violacea). See GRASSES, and PASTURE; and Stebler's Best Fodder Plants (Lond. 1889).