FLORA OF WATER-MFADOWS. 461 
panicle to the shedding of its “ seed.” Although a conspicuous 
feature in the herbage, it is not abundant. 
Whilst Bromus, Holcus, and Anthoxanthum will have scattered 
their seed upon the meadows in every season before the hay-crop 
is removed, there are certain other grasses which may have gone 
to seed in hot dry summers, such as that of 1887, but which will 
rarely have done so in ordinary seasons. Such are Cynosurus 
cristatus, Alopecurus pratensis, Poa pratensis, Poa trivialis, Gly- 
ceria fluitans, and possibly Avena flavescens. But Alopecurus 
does not appear to shed its “ seed "—the entire spikelet—upon 
the meadows. Each of the other species, however, may derive 
occasional support from this source, and would thus not be en- 
tirely dependent upon a perennial root-stock. . 
Certain other species, sufficiently abundant and generally dis- 
tributed to require notice in this respect, are so late in flower- 
ing, that their seed is never ripe at the time the hay-crop is 
carried off. These are Phleum pratense, Agrostis alba, Lolium 
perenne, and the Festucas. They therefore retain their position 
solely through the perennial nature of their root-stocks. Phleum 
pratense has a preference for moist habitats; and, excepting 
Phragmites communis, it is the latest of the water-meadow grasses 
to come into flower ; its herbage is young and fresh, and the in- 
florescence is usually only just emerging from its sheath, at the 
time the meadows are mown. Lolium perenne is abundantly 
represented, and, for quantity, probably occupies the second or 
third place after Holcus lanatus. Of the Festucas, it is the 
broad-leaved forms that flourish, whilst the narrow-leaved 
forms, of which Festuca ovina is the type, are scarcely re- 
presented. The case is almost reversed in Rothamsted Park, 
Where Festuca ovina is one of the most prevalent grasses, 
Whilst F. pratensis is rapidly diminishing. Inasmuch as the 
broad-leaved fescues, of which F. pratensis may be taken as the 
type, offer to the air a greater leaf-surface for transpiration, their 
demand upon the moisture of the soil would be greater than in the 
Case of the fine-leaved forms; hence the former might languish 
and die out in dry situations where, on the other hand, F. ovina 
and its nearest allies would thrive. ` 
The distribution of the gramineous species upon the water- 
meadows presents some points of interest. The species of Bro- 
mus, Holcus, Anthoxanthum, Cynosurus, Alopecurus, Poa, Avena, 
