Dr. Smith'j Obfervations on the Br/tifi Species of Bromus. 281 



more fpeedily completed my whole ta(k, in which Co many points 

 more remain to be invc-fti^ated. 



By the above remarks, protracted perhaps to too great a length, 

 I wiih to introduce a botanical hiftory of the Britifh fpecies of 

 Bromus, a tribe of graffes which, when examined, fully juftines all 1 

 have faid, and which could fcarcely have been underflood without 

 a careful inveftigation of the old herbariums, the errors in authors 

 being fo great and unaccountable as could not be believed without 

 fuch an inveftigation. 



Generic Character. 



Bromus. Linn. Gen. PL 36. fujf. Gen. 3a. 



Calyx bivalvis. Spicuh oblonga, difticha: arijla infra apicem ! 

 gluma interior pettinato-ciliata. 



All authors have found a difficulty *n diftinguifhing this genus 

 from Fejtuca, and fome have united them. The arifta being termi- 

 nal in Fejiuca, and not fo in Bromus, proves in moft in {lances a fuf- 

 ficient character, to which I beg leave to add, that the inner glume 

 of the corolla in Bromus is fringed with ftrong diftant briftly hairs, 

 whereas that part in Fejiuca is either fmooth or finely downy. 

 There are neverthelefs difficulties attending thefe marks, which I 

 fhall point out hereafter, 



liii I . B r o M us fecalinus* 



Smooth Rye Brome-grafs. 



B. panicula patente; pedunculis fubfimplicibus, fpiculis ovatis com- 

 preffis decemfloris, flofculis diftinitis teretiufculis. 

 Vol, IV, O o Bromus 



