94 THI ANURIA— DIG V MA. Agrostis 



o 



Gramen montanum miliaceum minus, radice repente. RaH Syn. 



•102.? 

 G. eaninum supinum. Ger. Em. 26. f. 

 G. eaninum supinum minus. Scheuckz, Agr* 128. 



y. A. sylvatica. Buds. ed. 1.28. Linn. Sp. PI. 1665. Willd, 

 v. 1.371. 



A. polymorpha 13. //i/r/.v. 32. 



Gramen miliaceum sylvestre, glumis oblongis. Dill, in Han Syn. 

 •101. 



In moist meadows, and fields inundated in autumn. /3 in ditches 

 and wet situations, on a clay soil, especially near the sea. y in 

 woods. 



Perennial. July, August. 



A larger plant than A. vulgaris, from which it essentially and ma- 

 nifestly differs, in having an elongated, ribbed, bluntish, mostly 

 downy, finally torn, stipula; whereas that of vulgaris is scarcely 

 visible at all, or at most not a line in length. I concur with 

 Professor Hooker and Mr. Bicheno in uniting A. stolonifera to 

 alba, but by no means in perceiving any ambiguity between the 

 latter and vulgaris. 



A. alba has long, decumbent, more or less branching, stems, send- 

 ing out roots from their lower joints. The leaves are broad, flat, 

 taper-pointed, ribbed, very rough on both sides to the touch, 

 especially at the edges. Sheaths long, smooth in my specimens, 

 though Professor Schrader informs me they are occasionally 

 rough. Panicle 4 — 6 inches long, alternately lobed, or divided 

 into several large, half-whorled, bundles, of extremely unequal, 

 angular, rough branches ; the lowermost particularly crowded, 

 generally much more so than is represented in Engl. Bot. 

 Calyx-glumes keeled, acute, slightly unequal, rather tumid; 

 their keels either entirely or partially rough with little bristles ; 

 their sides smooth j their edges not more membranous than the 

 other part, in which last character they differ from the vulgaris. 

 Cor. of 2 unequal valves ; the larger ribbed, and occasionally 

 awned from a little below the summit. Styles very short. 

 Stigmas thick, feathery. The calyx is either greenish white, or 

 brownish purple, but not so constantly, in different individuals, 

 as to mark a durable variety. 



In /3 the stem is more extensively creeping, sometimes floating; 

 but the chief difference consists in the still more dense and 

 tufted lobes of the panicle, as in Engl. Bot. and Leers t. 4./. 5. 

 The calyx, besides, is generally rough all over, with little bristly 

 points ; and I had thought, with the accurate Schrader, that this 

 roughness would afford a specific character ; but it is wanting 

 in the Liverpool specimens, see Engl. Bot. t. 1532. 



y is distinguished by an elongation of the cal. # cor., the flowers 

 being imperfect, and many of them transformed to leafy buds. 

 The lower branches of the panicle are abortive. 



