TRIANDRIA— DIGYNIA. Agrostis. 93 



fessor Schrader long ago noticed, all the varieties of this species, 

 whether awned or not, are readily distinguished from A. canina, 

 as also from alba. Panicle purplish, very delicate, slender, uni- 

 formly divaricated, with equidistant, elastic, finely capillary 

 branches, collected into small tufts after flowering; their lower 

 part smooth ; upper more or less rough, but the ultimate stalks 

 are smooth. Fl. small, erect, shining. Valves of the calyx lan- 

 ceolate, concave, somewhat unequal, with membranous edges 3 

 the keel of the larger often roughish. Cor. of 2 thin, very un- 

 equal, valves ; the smaller notched at the summit, hairy at the 

 base ; larger 3-ribbed, shorter than the calyx, usually awnless, 

 but sometimes, as in var. /3,and notunfrequently in 7, furnished 

 with a dorsal rough awn, about twice its own length. The an- 

 thers project just beyond the calyx, and are oblong, cloven at 

 each end. Styles very short. Stigm. densely feathery. Seed 

 ovate, tumid, especially in y, which is often, not always, infected 

 with the smut, or us'tilago. In $ the glumes become, more or 

 less, elongated and leafy, the fructification being transformed 

 into a bud, and the panicle viviparous. This happens chiefly in 

 shady or moist situations, where the whole plant is pale and 

 slender ; in dry exposed spots it is dwarf, condensed, of a fine 

 brownish purple all over. 



The earliness of this grass appears, according to Mr. Sinclair's ob- 

 servations, its chief agricultural value, the produce being far 

 from abundant. 



A. capillaris, Linn. Sp. PL 93. Sm. PL Ic. i. 54, is a totally differ- 

 ent plant, found in Portugal, by the late Sir T. Gage, Bart. 



5. A. alba. Marsh Bent-grass. 



Panicle condensed at the base of the main divisions ; stalks 

 rough. Calyx-valves lanceolate, bristly at the keel. Stem 

 spreading, creeping. Stipula oblong, ribbed. 



A. alba. Linn. Sp. PZ. 93. Willd.v. 1.371. Fl.Br.8\. Engl.Bot. 

 v. 17. t. 11 89. Hook. Scot. 25. Cullum 23. Schrad. Germ. v. 1. 

 209, aanrfjS. t.2.f. 1. 



A. mutabilis. Knapp t.28. 



A. polymorpha £, palustris. Huds. 32. 



A. palustris. Sincl. 237. 



A. capillaris. Leers 20. t. 4.f. 3. ? 



A. stolonifera latifolia. Sincl. 113, also aristata. 233. 



Gramen miliaceum majus, panicula spadicea, n. 1 1 ; as also pani- 

 cula viridi, n. 12. Dill, in Raii Syn. 404. 



/3. A. stolonifera. Linn. Sp. PL 93. Herb. Linn. Willd.v. 1.369. 

 Fl. Br. 80. Engl. Bot. v. 22. t. 1532. Mart. Rust. t. 1 20. Knapp 

 t.27.% Ml 6. 



A. polymorpha 8. Huds. 31. 



A. alba. Leers 21. t. 4./. 5. 



Poa n. 1473. Hall. Hist. 225. 



