TRIANDRIA— MONOGYNIA. Eriophorum. 69 



6. E. angiistifoliiim. Common Cotton-grass. 

 Stem nearly round. Leaves linear, triangular ; channelled 



towards the base. Stalks of the spikes smooth. Hairs 



four times the length of the spike. 

 E. angustifolium. Roth Germ, v. 2. 63. Dicks. Tr. of Linn. Soc. 



v.2.289. mild. v.\. 313. Vahl Enum. v. 2. 389. Fl. Br. 59. 



Engl. Bot. V. 8. t. 564. Graves Br. Gr. t. 4. With. 72. Hook. 



Scot. 21. Schrad. Germ. v. 1. 153. Fl. Dan. t. 1442. 

 E. polystachion. Huds. 21. Curt. Lond.fasc. 4. t. 9. 

 E. Vaillantii. Poit. ^ Turp. Par. t. 52. 

 Linagrostis. RaiiSyn. 43d. 

 L. panicula ampliore. Faill. Par. 117. t. 16. f. 1. 



In turfy, boggy, and muddy meadows, common. 



Perennial. April. 



Root creeping. Plant nearly as tall, though much more slender 

 than E. polystachion, with still longer hairs to the seeds, which 

 almost entirely conceal the grey, membranous, pointed glumes. 

 The spikes in seed, conspicuous for their whiteness, last through 

 tlie summer, and though partly drooping, are less absolutely 

 pendulous than those of the polystachion. The very narrow tri- 

 angular leaves afford a ready distinction. 



7. E. gracile. Slender Mountain Cotton-grass. 

 Stem round, with three slight angles. Leaves triangular ; 



channelled towards the base. Spikes longer than the 

 bractea. Hairs twice the length of the spike. 



E. gracile. Roth in Sims S; Kan. Ann. of Bot. v.\.\bO. Comp. 1 1 . 

 Engl. Bot. V. 34. t. 2402. Hook. Scot. 20, Poit. et Turp. Par. 

 t. 53. li'ahlenh. Lapp. 19. 



E, triquetrum. Schrad. Germ. v. 1. 152. Fl. Dan. 1. 1441. 



In boggy mountainous situations. 



On Ben Lawers, and the Clova mountains, in a micaceous soil. 

 G. Don. 



Perennial. July. 



Root creeping, with slender, jointed runners. Stem slender, 6 

 inches high when in flower, twice as tall, like the other species, 

 in seed. Leaves recurved, linear, triangular, acute, very narrow, 

 smooth, shorter than the flowering stem ; channelled and keeled 

 in their lower part, with a short, lanceolate, entire sfipula. Spikes 

 3 or 4, pardy stalked, always nearly erect, accompanied by a 

 leafy, ribbed bractea, not so tall as themselves. Glumes almost 

 black, membranous, the uppermost somewhat pointed ; lowest 

 of all 3 -ribbed. 



Our Scottish specimen is not in seed, nor are the flower-stalks dis- 

 cernible ; but it answers in other respects to German specimens 

 in seed, from Professor Schrader. In these the stalks of the 



