244 



The Country Gentleman's Magazine 



GRASSES FOR PERMANENT PASTURE. 

 2,-o. III.— CYNOSURUS CRISTATUS* {LinncBus)—CrQsi&d Dog's-tail Grass. 



Synonyms— (;;-«///<•« cns/alinn, or Cockscomb grass of Gerard and other early English authors. Scotch— 

 Windlcsirae Grass ; French— C;r/.-/A' or CreteUc dcs prcs ; German-Z?rt^ Kammgras ; Dutch— rm^vr- 

 phiim ; Y)z.ms\—Ilanckamsgrivs : Swedish— A>;;/w<-.r/;;-. 



DESCRIPTION. inches, and in some instances to 2 feet. 



AVERY common fibrous-rooted grass, These are surmounted by erect peculiarly- 

 with a thick under growth of short flat arranged crested spikes, in which the 

 leaves from among which the stems rise rather comb-hke spikelets are set alternately ui 

 ' two rows, both rows inclining to one side 



of the rachis or centre rib, from whence 

 they arise. These spikes or ears are 

 openly spread when in flower, but contrac- 

 ted or narrowed at other times. The 

 beginning of July is the usual period of flower- 

 ing, and the seeds ripen in four or five weeks 

 afterwards. When allowed to produce seed 

 the stems become hard, withered, and innu- 

 tritions, so that they are then avoided by all 

 kinds of stock, and impart to the pasturage 

 an unsightly " windlestrawed " appearance. 



NATURAL DISTRIBUTION. 



Common throughout Europe, except in its 

 most northern latitudes, but has no place in 

 the floras of North and South America, Aus- 

 tralia, and New Zealand. In Britain itabounds 

 in all grassy grounds under elevations of 2000 

 feet, but is most abundant in meadow pastures 

 Avhere the soil is stifiish in texture, somewhat 

 moist, and not under medium quality. 



QUALITIES AND USES. 



Stillingfleet, who was one of the earliest 

 English writers who directed attention to the 

 cultivation of the best native grasses, included 

 the C. cristatus in his select list of deserving 

 sorts, and cultivated it himself in 1761. The 

 London Society for the Encouragement of 

 Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce, awarded, 

 in 1766, two prizes of ;^5 and ^3, 3s. to K 

 Birch, Somerset, and Wm. Gosse, Hants, 

 " for gathering its seeds by the hand." In vol. 

 ii. of " The Bath Society's Letters and Paper," 

 pubhshed in 1778, mention is made of seeds 

 of the crested dog's-tail grass having been sent 

 to that Society by G. Swayne of Pucklechurch, 



Cynosurus cristatus— Reduced in size, shewing habit of growth. 



rigidly upright to heights of from 12 to i8 



itiU, in allusion to 



* From the Greek 

 the form of its spike. 



a d^v, and i 



