

/ 





116 ' TRIANDRTA. DIGYNIA. Panicum. 



1-Tark. 1178. \~Ger. 25. 2-C. B. th. IU-J. -B.ii.444. 

 l~Fl. dan. 3S8Spiiet y &f<r. Leers 2. 6-Scheuch. 2.1 1. G.#. 



The knots within the base of the spikes, and the dots on the 

 leaf-sheath do not appear in the figure of the Fl. Lond. but the 

 latter are mentioned, and the former expressed in the fig, of Leers; 

 so that there yet remains a doubt whether our plant may not be 

 the P. filiforme. fig. by Jacq. obs. iii. t. 70, and of which the 

 following is given as a specific character : " Spikes somewhat 

 €S finger-like, approaching, upright, strap-shaped : spike-stalk 

 <€ zigzag : teeth ^-flowered, 1 floret sitting." 



Cocks-foot Panick. Com fields near Battersea ; and Martha's 

 Chapel, Guildford. Huds. — [At Witchingham, Norfolk. Mr. 



Woodw.] 



J 



dac'tylon. P. Spikes fingered, expanding : soft hairs on the inside the 



base : flowers solitary : roots with creeping runners. 



Plate XXI. — Dich. h. s.-E. hot. 850-C/us. ii. 217 -Lob* 



obs. 12. l-Ger. em. 28. 3-Park. 1179- 5-C.B. th. 112. 



\ 



1 13-//. ox. viii. 3. row 2. 4-Barr. 753. 1-i/. ox. ib. 6- 

 Spikes, Mont. $$-Scheucb. 2. 11. /. 



There is some little doubt whether ours be the exact plant 

 characterized by Linnaeus, as the P. dactylon ; the first 4 fig. here 

 referred to have long awns, but our plant has none, and yet these 

 are all copied from the original fig. of Clusius, to which Linnseus 

 i refers us. But it may be, that in the milder climates of Spain 

 and Italy, the plant is awned, though not so with us. None of 

 the other figures have awns, and therefore agree better with our 

 plant. But the hairs mentioned in the Sp. char, as existing on 

 the inside the base of the spikes, are not so evident in our speci- 

 mens ?.s to justify such an application, for though our plants have 

 some hairiness there, they have at least as much on the outside 

 the base of the spikes, and still more in other parts. 



This species seems first to have been found by Mr. Newton, 

 as recorded in Ray Syn. 3^9> who justly rejects the Synon. of 

 Bauh. pin. 7> which Linnseus probably copied from Scheuchzer 

 or the older writers, and Hudson from him, overlooking the re- 

 jection of it by Ray. In the place mentioned by Newton, it has 

 again been lately found by my friend Mr. Stackhouse, who sent 

 me specimens, and also made the drawing from which the annex- 

 ed plate has been engraved. Mr. Stackhouse also favoured rue 

 with the following remarks on its structure, which agree well 

 with those of Scheuchzer. — Root greatly creeping through the 

 loose sand, garnished with strong fibres at the knots. Stem rarely 



* All the stems which lie near the ground take root, and by this 

 means, though an annual and short lived plant, it increases and spreads 

 very wide. Miss ]w<« 



