Dr. Smi t lis Obfo vatims oh the Britifi Specks of Etomus. 2^7 



Pnecedente toto habitu gracilior. Radix annua. Culmus fere tripc- 

 dalis, glabriufculus. Folia utrinque pilofa, margine parum fcabra. 

 Vagina pills plerumque deflexis hirfutae, Pankula rara, diffufa 



(nee coar£f.ata), fimplex, pedunculis fcmiverticillatis, fcabris, elon- 

 'gatis, indivifis, vix unquam bifloris. Spicule prrecedentis, at 

 glaberrhrue, vix feptemfiorLc, nitidx, viridi alboque vittatse, nci\is 

 minus prominentibus, aridis fcabris longitudine valvularum. 



Linnaeus defcribed this fpecies from an Englifh fpecimen, lefs 

 luxuriant than uiual, and therefore more ftrictly racemofe. The 

 name however may be retained in all u (ion to the fimple ftructure of 

 "the panicle. Even in the very luxuriant fpecimen, fent by Tilli to 

 Sherard, the foot-ftalks are moftly fimple and fmgle-flowercd bv 

 which, and the conftant fmoothnefs of its glumes, it may certainly 

 be diftinguiihed from B. mollis. 



We have under this grafs an inftance of Dillenius's havin^ inferted, 

 as anew fpecies, into his edition of the Synopfis, what exifted there 

 well defined already, for his is not even a variety of Ray's plant. 



Dr. Withering, by an error totally unaccountable to me, quotes 

 Mr. Afzelius as faying that < l the B.fca/inus, hordeaceus and racemofus 

 are the fame plant in the Linnxan herbarium, and that they are all 

 varieties of B. mollis T This excellent Botanift muft have fpokeii 

 from recollection, and his memory deceived him, as any one may 

 eafily be convinced by locking at the fpecimens. Nor is this the 

 only error of the fame kind, which, without my participation or 

 knowledge, has glided into the work of my intelligent and liberal 

 friend, to whom I Ihould have been happy at all times to have di- 

 rectly communicated all the information that might be confident 

 with my own undertakings, which I know' to be all he would ever 

 defire. 



5 5. Bromus 



