298 GRAMINEjE. [Agrostia. 



less stout and with narrower leaves and more compact panicles than 

 Arundo Phragmites, to which it bears some resemblance. 



7. Agrostis. Linn. Bent-grass. 



Panicle loose. Calyx of two unequal glumes, longer than the 

 corolla. Corolla of two unequal valves ; the inner some- 

 times wanting, the outer with or without an awn. Seed free. 

 — Name given by the Greeks to Grasses, from a^pos, a field, 

 because they are so abundant in open places. 



Triandria. Digynia. 



1. A. canina, Linn. Brovm Bent-grass. Branches of the 

 panicle long, slender, erecto-patent ; calyx-valves unequal, 

 lanceolate, rough at the keel ; corolla of one valve, with a 

 dorsal awn from below the middle ; leaves linear. Br. Fl. ed. 3. 

 p. 37. E. FL v. i. p. 90. E. Bot. t. 1856. 



Moist heaths and moory places, abundant. Fl. June, July. %. — 

 Very variable in the size and colour of its flowers, purple or green, and 

 in the length of the dorsal awn, which is sometimes included within 

 the calyx, at other times considerably exserted. 



2. A. vulgaris, With. Fine Bent-grass. Branches of the 

 panicle smoothish, its branchlets diverging ; outer valve of the 

 corolla 3-nerved ; ligule extremely short and truncate. Br. FL 

 ed. 3. p. 38. E. FL v. i. p. 91. E. Bot. t. 1671.— /3. aristata ; 

 outer valve of the corolla awned. A. canina, With. — 7. pumila ; 

 scarcely three inches high. A. pumila, Light/. Scot. 



Meadows, pastures, and banks, common everywhere. Fl. June, 

 July. %. — Root tufted, somewhat creeping. Stem twelve to twenty- 

 four inches high, unless in 7. Panicle purplish, very delicate, slender, 

 uniformly divaricated, with elastic, finely capillary branches, their 

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

 are smooth. Calyx-glumes lanceolate, smooth, shining, rough on the 

 back. Corolla-glume of two thin, delicate, membranous, unequal 

 valves. 



3. A. alba, Linn. Marsh Bent-grass. Branches of the 

 panicle hispid ; branchlets patent ; outer valve of corolla five- 

 nerved ; ligule oblong. Br. Fl. ed. 3. p. 38. E. FL v. i. 

 p. 93. E. Bot. t. 1189.— A stolonifera, Linn. E. Bot. t. 1532. 



Pastures, road-sides, and near the sea on a clay soil, and even on the 

 gravelly and sandy shore. Fl. July, Aug. %. — Plant stouter than 

 the last, and generally taller. Culms ascending, often throwing out 

 runners to a great length, which root at each joint, and produce new 

 plants. Calyx-glumes as in A. vulgaris, as are those of the corolla ; 

 but the outer valve has five nerves and as many teeth, and the inner 

 one is only faintly two to three-nerved at the base, nearly entire, and 

 obtuse at the extremity. — This is the famous Fiorin of Doctor Richard- 

 6011, of which I saw in Cunnamara, man}'- years ago, excellent crops of 

 hay on reclaimed bog, where it had been introduced three years pre- 

 viously, along with sand from the shore, used there as a manure for 

 ■ potatoes as the first crop, and barley or oats the year following. 



