136 



The calyx expands before the seed is quite ripe, [vide navies' 

 Welsh Bot. contra.) Davies is correct in saying, " that the 

 upper floret ripens first, and the next in succession, and that 

 the seed falls along with the surrounding corolla," whose ex- 

 ternal glume is much the larger, very abrupt, so as to be 

 truncate and fringed at the extremity. Stigmas much shorter 

 than the filaments. No 7iectary discoverable. 



Several stems arise from the same root; sometimes they 

 form a rather dense tuft. , 



27. Holcus lanatus and mollis. — The acute calyx-glumes, 

 and the downy joints of the stem readily distinguish the latter 

 species, without attending to the awn of the upper floret, 

 which is apt to mislead if the plants be examined in the 

 flowering state. 



28. Melica MW?/om.— Cheshire, May 16, 1827.— The nec- 

 tary is peculiar, consisting of a thick, laterally inflexed, blunt, 

 undivided scale. Filaments much thickened at the base. 

 Styles horizontally spreading. Stigmas with many-branched 

 divisions. The inner valve of the corolla has its edges 

 strongly inflexed. Sheaths of the stem angular, the lower 

 one rough. Stems bent at the base. The thickened bases 

 of the Jilaments are permanent, and may have been mistaken for 

 nectaries. This peculiarity I believe is observable also in the 

 M. nutans, but am uncertain whether it exists in M. coerulea. 



29. Glyceria rigida. — Beamaris, Anglesea, June 2, 1828, 

 (Walls.) — This grass much resembles Triticum loliaceum, 

 which is found with it. The germen, stigmas, and nectaries 

 are alike in both. Outer valve of corolla more obtuse in 

 Triticum loliaceum than in this, which has a slight rough keel 

 at the top : leaves not much different in the two, but in Gly- 

 ceria rigida the stipule is rather longer, the spikelet narrower, 

 and more decidedly stalked, the calyx-glumes shorter, and the 



florets less crowded. 



30. Poa glauca.—Tvf\\ du, N. Wales, July, 1826. — Nec- 

 taries deeply and widely notched, or rather cloven into two 

 unequal segments. Stigmas not very large or evidently 

 branched : tlie edge of the inner valve of the corolla scarcely 



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