306 GRAMINE^I. [Briza. 



feet high, slender and delicate in all its parts. Leaves narrow, linear, 

 acute. Panicle with the branches almost erecto-patent. Spikelets 

 scattered. Calyx-valves unequal, ovato lanceolate, acute, rather ob- 

 scurely ribbed, pubescent at the keel and hairy at the base, very 

 slightly webbed. P.glauea, E. Bot. t. 1720, is now considered by 

 Doctor Hooker and Mr. Wilson to be only a variety of this species. 

 I have not found it on any of our mountains ; but the late Mr. Tern- 

 pleton, in a note in one of my Catalogues, states that he found it near 

 Belfast, and thought it not confined to high mountains. 



15. Triodia. Br. Heath-grass. 



Panicle racemed. Calyx 2-valved, many-flowered, nearly 

 equal. Corolla 2-valved, exterior one with three nearly 

 equal teeth, the middle one straight. — Named from T/>et?, 

 three, and oSovs, a tooth. Triandria. Digynia. 



1. T. decumbens, Beauv. Decumbent Heath-grass. Panicle 

 of few racemed spikelets ; calyx as long as the flowers ; ligule 

 a tuft of hairs. Br. Fl. ed. 3. p. 47. E. Fl. v. i. p. 131— 

 Poa decumbens, E. Bot. t. 131. — Festuca decumbens, Linn. 



Abundant in dry mountainous pastures and heaths. Fl. July. 1(L. — 

 A foot long, procumbent ; flowering culms only erect. Leaves linear, 

 acuminate, hairy as well as the sheaths. Calyx-valves nearly equal, 

 lanceolate, acute, nerved, with broad, thin margins, scabrous on the 

 keels. Ext. valve of the corolla ovate, nerved or ribbed, having 

 a small tuft of hairs on each side at the base ; apex with three teeth. 

 Int. valve obtuse, entire at the point, ciliated at the angles of the 

 fold. — In habit very distinct from Poa. 



16. Briza. Linn. Quaking-grass. 



Panicle lax. Calyx 2-valved. Corolla 2-valved, awnless; 

 ext. one ventricose, int. very small and flat. Fruit adnate 

 with the corolla. — Named from fipi9w, to balance, the spike- 

 lets being most delicately suspended. 



Triandria. Digynia. 



1. B. media, Linn. Common Quaking-grass. Spikelets 

 broadly ovate, of about seven flowers ; calyx shorter than the 

 florets. Br. Fl. ed. 3. p. 47. E. FL v. i. p. 133. E. Bot. 

 t. 340. 



Meadows and pastures, frequent. Fl. June. %.— A graceful plant. 

 Culms slender, one foot or more high. Leaves short, linear-acuminate. 

 Stipules short, obtuse. Panicle considerably branched ; branches 

 thread-shaped, divaricating, purple. Spikelets tremulous with the 

 slightest breeze, very smooth, shining purple, more or less green or 

 greenish-white at the edges. Calyx-valves very concave, subcompressed. 

 Exterior valve of the corolla much like the calyx, but rather smaller ; 

 interior one minute, resembling a flat scale within the outer one. 



