Dr. Smith V Obfervations on the Britijh Species o/Bromus. 293 



belongs to B. arvenfts, as above quoted. So in the Sherardian her- 

 barium, along with authentic fpecimens from Scheuchzer and 

 Monti of B. ereftus, with their own names for it, are various others, 

 fome with downy glumes, others with fmooth ones, to which 

 Sherard has applied fuch a mafs of confufed fynonyms from the 

 Bauhins, Ray and Tournefort, that they only ferve to fhew he had 

 really no clear ideas upon the fubjeft, and that his authority, like 

 that of too many other Botanifts, is not to be implicitly relied on in 

 matters of opinion or criticifm, however valuable in the cafe of 

 original fpecimens of plants found ordefcribed by himfelf. 



With refpect. to Vaillant, his figure leaves no doubt of B. ereclus 

 being the plant he intended,, though it may or may not be the 

 Ftjluca pratenfts lanuginofa ofBauhin ; and his other citations are 

 obfeure, thofe of Ray certainly wrong. 



Bromus ereSius is eafily known by its black perennial downy root* 

 erect panicle and fpikes, and efpecially by the radical leaves being 

 much narrower than thofe on the rtem, perfectly linear, and. remark- 

 ably ciliated with diftant long white hairs, pointing upwards. The 

 accurate Mr. Swayne, as well as Mr. Woodward, has noticed its affi- 

 nity to Fejtuca, to which genus I might have been tempted to remove 

 it* on account of the perennial root, and the inner glume of the 

 corolla being downy rather than pectinated. The arijia however 

 being, although a direct continuation of the carina, not ftrictly ter- 

 minal, as the glume feparates from it on each fide, but more efpecially 

 the great affinity between this grafs and Bromus a/per, an indubitable 

 Bromus, make me retain it in that genus. 



8. Bromus a/per. 

 Hairy Wood Brome-grafs. 

 B. panicula nutante ramofa, flofculis lanceolatis teretiufculis fub- 

 enerviis, foliis uniformibus : inferioribus hirfutis. 



Bromus 



